Letters to the Editor
-
But what are Buster's "Locks of the Week"?
What does the right (or left) thumb of the coin-flippinest 2-year-old on the planet have to say?
(No offence, King, but I'm riding the Buster train this year...)
-
Hah!
Mocket Hasser Plummer?
Dude! I like to write while stoned too.
-
Best Line in the League?
King, you routinely say stuff with which I disagree. Usually you turn out to be right. At least you aren't a dick about it. But did you really just say that the Denver Broncos have thebest offensive line in the league? You cannot possibly defend that statement.
The best offensive line in the league plays its home games at Arrowhead Stadium, the home of the Kansas City Chiefs. Now, I will admit that I am a Chiefs fan and, therefore, biased. But come on. Kansas City has Pro-Bowl starters at two o-line positions and also has a reserve as well. In fact, right now Kansas City has, arguably, two offensive linemen who are the best ever to play their respective positions: Willie Roaf and Will Shields. Now, whether they are the best ever at their positions is up for debate, but you cannot deny that Kansas City has a much better line than Denver.
The sad fact, for me at least, is that my Chiefs have had such a routinely awful defense that this amazingly gifted offensive line has no playoff victories.
But you cannot assert that Denver's line is better. Well, alright, you can assert it. In fact, you did. But you cannot prove or even defend that assertion. Denver may be a better team, but they don't have a superior offense and they absolutely have an inferior offensive line.
-
All Football, No Hype
I have to agree with you that the conference title games trump the Superbowl. I'm one of those people who actually tune in to watch the GAME, not the halftime entertainment or the commercials or the stupid celebrities interspersed either in the stands or on the field during halftime. Who really gives a shite about the Rolling Stones??These two final games are our last chance to watch some really good football before all the media-induced hype takes over.
-
Buster's picks
Exactly opposite mine. Denver and Carolina.
-
Best lines in the league
1) Kansas City
2) Seattle
3) Denver
-
Not an editor's choice
You're right on the Pittsburgh game. Lifelong Steelers fan here. I'll tell you how I know you're right and stipulate to the fact that it doesn't make any sense. Last year even at 15-1 I had a sense of foreboding entering the playoffs... sure enough, one and out even with their gaudy record and playing at home.
THIS year I went into the Indy game thinking they'd win despite being the 6 seed playing on the road in a dome where thay had gotten killed earlier. I had no reason to think we had a chance and they dominated most of the game. This is the year.... one for the thumb!
-
Best lines in the league
Football Outsiders have it as
1. Indy
2. Denver
3. K.C.
At this stage in their careers, is Willie Roaf really better than Walter Jones?
K.C.'s skill players are better, way better, than Denver's, across the board, except Rod Smith is at least the equal of Eddie Kennison. Yet their offensive results are very similar.
I can't defend the statement beyond that without having concentrated on line play while watching these two teams all year. Of course you could make an argument for K.C., and one for Indy, and maybe even one for Seattle (Football Outsiders sez Seattle No. 6). But I'm comfortable calling Denver the best.
[Football Outsiders o-line rankings, with explanation: http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/ol.php]
-
Seattle fans nervously await our fate
I have to say, given Buster's record, his pick makes me a little edgy. Hawks fans are in really weird territory right now - just about to finally tip into a new era but wondering what it will look like. Starting out an expansion franchise in '75, getting pretty good within a decade, and then (BAM!) getting bought that jackal Ken Behring. We're only finally fully recovering. So are we headed down dynasty road, or is our time among the elite going to be a Browns-style purgatory?
Anyway, enough getting philosophical. King is 1000% right about making the SB a home game. Why play for a bunch of indifferent corporate flacks in a city that has nothing to do with either team, when you can play in a highly-charged stadium before real fans (well, real fans if the NFL would do like King suggests and release unused tix in the first quarter)? And, the need to earn home field advantage for the SB could give teams the extra incentive to play hard in their last games. No Colts resting their starters against the Hawks in Week 16, for instance.
-
Jake's Nickname
When he was with Arizona, and in his early days with Denver, my personal nickname for Jake Plummer was "Should Have Been A". (Insert the phrase between his first and last names.)
Anyway, football fans know there was only ever one Snake, a certain Mr. Stabler. Plummer is a mere pretender to his herpetological handle.
-
Home Field Superbowl
I don't think it will ever happen because of the coral reef of commercial hooha that has grown up around the event, but I'd prefer a home field Super Bowl too. Maybe you could determine HFA the same way baseball does it, by letting the winner of the previous Pro Bowl determine which conference hosts.
Then, Peyton Manning's post-choking Pro Bowl heroics would actually mean something.
-
Please
King,
Enjoy the column. But as a former English major, a frequent reader, and, well, a living human with functional eyesight and an IQ north of 20, I'd have to say that the following may be one of the worst paragraphs ever written by anyone at any time during recorded history:
Seattle is located in a remote region of the country called the Pacific Northwest, and you don't know about Hasselbeck, without you have read about the adventures of Shaun Alexander, who played his minor-league ball at Alabama, but that ain't no matter. Running or throwing, the Seahawks have the best offense in the league outside of Indianapolis.
I'm gonna let you off the hook on this one - I'm guessing that the kids are really cutting into your REM sleep. But if it persists, I may have to write one of those pseudo-righteous "what's happened to Salon?" letters.
And I think we can all agree that nobody needs that.