Points of View, May 24, 2008

[tshanno]

http://chicagobearsfanforum.com/blog/?p=254

 

The Bears

 

*

 

Brad Biggs blogs that Cedric Benson has was in court yesterday but not for boating. He was in for a speeding ticket. At first I thought, “No big deal.” But hen I read that he was fined $510 and given supervision. That was some serious speeding.

* Count Rashaan Salaam as one of those who isn’t buying into the idea that Cedric Benson finally gets it.

 

“They’ve given him everything,” Salaam said. ”But they’re getting tired of him. I have the most respect for the Chicago Bears organization for sticking with this dude. They are really looking out for Cedric Benson, treating him like he’s an all-pro player.

 

“Coming out of college, he was a polished young man, well-spoken. The way he’s acting now is mind-boggling.”

 

Want to know what’s really mind boggling? I don’t entirely agree. For once I’m optimisitic and I’m anxious to see how Benson answers his critics.

 

*

 

Scout.com reports that the Bears didn’t take Rashard Mendenhall because they just plain thought Matt Forte was better.

 

Elsewhere

 

*

 

Lions coach Rod Marinelli:

 

“A bunch of guys are tight — I just feel it. That really gets tested when we hit adversity. When adversity hits, then we’ll see how strong we are. But I believe in my heart we are.”

 

To his credit, Marinelli realizes that this is the difference between winners and losers. He’s probably worked for enough winning teams to know. But my guess is that, always the optimist, he doesn’t quite realize how hard it is for a losing organization to get over that hump. I don’t know whether the Lions are there, but I feel confident that you’d never be able to tell it in May. No one who really knows what it takes would ever say it then.

 

* Mike Florio of profootballtalk.com blogs that he got an unsolicited call from a high level NFL executive from a team other than the Patriots. Here’s what he said about further allegations of cheating by the Patriots:

 

“I honestly feel like the IR issue is a way bigger issue than taping signals. I always felt that was overblown because everyone was doing it in some way (i.e. with a scout in the press box, etc). However, the IR thing is huge. In terms of getting players ready to play for the future, it’s invaluable. You can stash players on the IR, protect them from waivers, and get them to practice, develop and improve. Plus it allows you to rest your veterans during practice. In terms of competitiveness, from an overall team standpoint, that’s a much bigger advantage than taping signals.

 

The fact that the Commish wouldn’t take any further action, to me, is incredible. It’s a totally separate deal and MUCH more valuable than taping signals, in my opinion.”

 

A couple points:

 

The fact that taping of defensive signals is “overblown because everyone was doing it” is disturbing (though not surprising). I appreciate that the commissioner has done something about that and the league needs to remain vigilant.

 

The IR issue shouldn’t be allowed to go away. This once again stress the importance of Spygate and re-emphasizes that the media not let it die. Again, the bet here is that the Patriots are not the only guilty party and that this is not the only way in which teams are currently cheating.

 

The fact that “the Commish” hasn’t done anything once again re-empasizes the rumored possibility that Bill Bellichick has threatened to tell everything he knows about all teams cheating if he is punished again.

 

* The Vikings released Erasmus James. He is the second of the Vikings two first rounders in 2005 to go (the other was Troy Williamson. Can’t decide which is worse. Picking two bad players and having to release them or picking them and sticking with them too long out of pride (see Jerry Angelo)

* As I pointed out the other say, revenue sharing amongst the owners might be a major issue in the negotiations over the next CBA. Mike Florio, writing for The Sporting News:

 

“As the expiration date for the labor agreement approaches, it’s possible that some low-revenue teams such as Buffalo or Jacksonville might start clamoring about the topic again if high-revenue teams like Dallas or Washington say they’re giving up too much, or if low-revenue teams feel they’re not getting enough.”

 

* Here’s a heart warming one. Rich Tylski, a guard with the Jaguars, Steelers and Panthers, was placed in a pretrial intervention program after admitting in court that he abused his adopted daughter. Tylski copped to spanking the girl with a belt beyond the scope of proper discipline. The authorities were tipped off to the abuse when the girl was brought to the emergency room with a broken femur in 2006. The Tylskis said she fell down the stairs but an investigation followed and doctors found extensive bruising and six or seven healing fracturesin her hand. Tylski’s wife admitted to striking the girl and bending her fingers back.

 

Raise your hand if you think spaying and neutering shouldn’t be allowed as a justifiable form of punishment in a court of law.

 

One Final Thought

 

This came from Matt Moseley of ESPN’s Hashmarks Blog. Its an excerpt from Mark Bowden’s book on the 1959 Championship game, “The Best Game Ever”. Its from chapter 2 which focuses on former NFL player Raymond Berry:

 

“He had chosen the film of a particular game, usually one that featured a lot of passing, observing each route run by the wide receiver, timing each play and interval between plays with a stopwatch, and then in tiny, meticulous handwriting, sketching the patterns and noting the sequences. Every play, whether the receiver was thrown the ball or not, every huddle, every timeout, every stretch spent on the bench between offensive series.

 

“He noted the time spent in each phase, routes and recovery times, and consulting his hand-written script out on the grass, acted out an entire game, whistle to whistle. Out on the playing field of his hometown in the dead of summer there was no one to observe his obsessive devotion, no teammate, no neighbor, no coach. There was no one he was trying to impress. It was pure desire. No, not just desire. The young man in gray sweats and glasses was desperate.”

[DrunkBomber]

First of all, why and how is Salaam commenting on anyone? Im surprised anyone would care what he has to say. Secondly, I would hardley say that Benson was a polished well spoken man coming out of college.

[tshanno]

First of all, why and how is Salaam commenting on anyone? Im surprised anyone would care what he has to say. Secondly, I would hardley say that Benson was a polished well spoken man coming out of college.

 

Yeah, I wondered where that came from, too. I will say that, hearing him talk, he's obviously not illiterate or anything. But judging from the content I wouldn't call him a polished anything. I've been thinking about it almost from the day he was drafted and I still haven't figured out if he's too dumb to edit what comes out of his mouth or he just doesn't care.

 

Tom S.

[madlithuanian]

Good thoughts on Benson... I tend to think he lacks a filter. And heart...

 

Yeah, I wondered where that came from, too. I will say that, hearing him talk, he's obviously not illiterate or anything. But judging from the content I wouldn't call him a polished anything. I've been thinking about it almost from the day he was drafted and I still haven't figured out if he's too dumb to edit what comes out of his mouth or he just doesn't care.

 

Tom S.

[DABEARSDABOMB]

Benson was a stud at Texas, but I do recall some people had concerns about his character coming out of college. Most of those concerns were because he was loosely associated/compared with Ricky Williams (who we all know has had all kind of issues off the field, albeit none of them are what I would consider major issues, they are issues that have significantly impacted his career).