Jets Envy

HBO's"Hard Knocks" over the summer didn't help. Nor does having a head coach with a big belly and an even a bigger mouth. Jets-haters don't like our glamour-boy quarterback, and they really don't like that we've anointed our cornerback the best in the sport.

I can feel the animosity in my own house. Robby and his friends, who, strangely, don't root for the Jets or Giants, but rather for an unlikely assortment of out-of-town teams including the Dolphins, the Chargers, the Lions, the Steelers, the Bengals, the Bears, the Eagles, and the Falcons, watch the games every week on NFL Sunday Ticket in our playroom. Last Sunday, as I walked into that room after yet another improbably Jets victory (30-27 over the Texans), I could tell they were seething. If I so much as made eye contact with any of them, I know they would have gleefully told me how the Jets suck; how they're nothing but lucky; how they've been beating stinky teams. How they don't deserve to win.

And to all that, I have just one word: Standings. Call me crazy, but I think the standings are important. And if the fans from all those teams I mentioned look way, way up in the standings -- hopefully, without straining their necks too badly -- they'll find the Jets.

Gang Green sealed each of its last four victories in the final minutes. Their total margin of victory for those four games was 16 points. Winning ugly -- yeah, I heard that a lot. But when they pick the team to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl, I guarantee, it ain't gonna be based on style points.

Oh, and one more thing: Mark Sanchez.

Every once in a while, Robby will sing the praises of an athlete he says I have to like, because even if he plays for an enemy team, he's scrappy/tough/smart/fundamentally sound/old-school. In short, he has some combination of qualities he knows I can't help admiring.

To Robby, and to his fellow Dolphins fans, and to the motley crew that assembles in our playroom every Sunday, I say this: Would you like a 24-year-old quarterback who's got a rocket-launcher for an arm, who can escape the pass rush like Houdini, who in his second year is already the undisputed leader of his team, and who has this habit of pulling out victory after victory in the last minute?

I thought so.

And finally, switching gears to local high school football . . . a shout-out to my hometown Staples Wreckers, who this morning crushed the Greenwich Cardinals 27-8, finishing the regular season with a 9-1 record, and clinching a berth in the state tournament. Three more wins to go. GO WRECKERS!!!

-Hank

Thursday Night Mediocrity

As an NFL-addict, the concept of Thursday Night Football seems just about perfect. The waiting period from Monday to Sunday is split in half. It eliminates a football-less school night. Maybe even best of all, it provides an opportunity to take advantage of inexperienced fantasy owners who forget to set their rosters in time for the premature kickoff.

But from a pure football perspective, the games are almost always dreadful. I won't even pretend to know what the physical and mental punishment is like for NFL players, but I'll put it this way: I am EXHAUSTED after every single one of my high school football games, and I'm playing against 175 pounders, not 375 pounders. It just isn't fair to make these players throw their bodies around twice in five days. The human body should not have to endure that.

And the results are obvious. Last night's game between the Bears and Dolphins was proof enough. There were sixteen total points scored in the game (and as a Fins fan, I don't even want to mention how they were distributed). Not to make excuses for the Dolphins, but I have never in my life seen a team more depleted by injuries.

Already forced into using 3rd string quarterback Tyler Thigpen due to previous injuries to Chad Henne and Chad Pennington, the Dolphins seemed to be doomed offensively from the get go. But before halftime, the Dolphins also lost two centers, as well as star receiver Brandon Marshall, to injury. Miami had tackles playing guard, guards playing center, and no-names playing wide receiver. The announcer pointed out that the Dolphins had no more active offensive linemen in uniform. One more injury and a defender would've been forced to play on the other side of the ball!

My point is that this problem could've been avoided pretty easily. They could have just played the game on Sunday like the other 30 teams. Sure, more days of football mean more fun for the fans. But it's just not fair to have NFL games, and sometimes seasons, decided by players going on three days rest.

The world rejoiced with the creation of Monday Night Football, but the NFL should have just left it at that.

-Robby

This Just In: Son Admits to Rooting for Fantasy Team More Than Dolphins

Let me say right off the bat, before a certain 17-year-old goes ballistic, that the Herman son being referred to above is not Robby, the co-author of this blog, but Matt, my oldest son. In his latest post on FOOTBALL VS. GIRLFRIEND (http://www.footballvsgirlfriend.com/), Matt writes:

I held out on fantasy football longer than most -- This is my fourth year playing, whereas most people I know started 7-8 years ago. I resisted because I worried fantasy would hurt my appreciation for the game. But more importantly, I worried it would overtake my love for my favorite team -- the Dolphins. Well guess what? It did. I spend more time thinking about my fantasy team than I do the Dolphins, and I finally feel strong enough to admit it. Man Code deems it wrong to think such a thing, so most of us pretend it's not true. But deep, deep down, I believe virtually every guy who takes fantasy seriously cares more about his fake team than his real-life team.

As you know, I always suspected this was true. That's why I never wanted to get involved with fantasy. I'm proud that Matt was man enough to admit the way he feels. And I think all fantasy team owners should do the same: Open your window, lean out, and shout, "I ROOT FOR MY FANTASY TEAM MORE THAN I DO FOR MY REAL TEAM!"

And while I'm patting myself on the back -- how 'bout LeBron and his Miami Heat? You'll recall back in the early summer, when The Chosen One cheesily announced to the world that he was taking his talents to South Beach, I said that he was betraying Cleveland and should have stayed. Robby said he should do whatever the bleep he pleased -- and that furthermore, he was certain that with LeBron and his sidekick Chris Bosh joining D-Wade in Miami, the Heat would win at least 70 of their 82 games.

Well, as of this moment, the Heat have won 5 and lost 3 -- not bad, but certainly not on pace for a 70-win season. And the Cleveland Cavaliers, LBJ's jilted team that allegedly had nobody after the King left, and was supposed to curl up and die, is 4-4 -- exactly one game behind the Miami Thrice.

One more thing: Right around the time of the LeBron hysteria, the Knicks were getting ready to unload David Lee so they could sign monster free agent Amar'e Stoudemire. Though I'd always admired Stoudemire's athletic skills, I posted that there's no way the Knicks should dump Lee, since Amar'e was barely an upgrade: He was basically a D. Lee who dunks a little harder, plays a little flashier, and doesn't rebound as well.

Okay, Lee and his Warriors came to town last night. Lee had 28 points and 10 boards; Stoudemire had 33 and 10, and missed two clutch free throws down the stretch. The Warriors came away with another win, making them 6-2. The Knicks absorbed another loss, sending them to 3-5. Now there's $100 million really well spent.

-Hank

What Keeps the NFL From Being Perfect?

As a Dolphins fan, logic says that I should be in a pretty good mood right now. Miami's 4-3 and coming off a big road win at Cincinnati. The deadly first half schedule is almost over. The defense is dominating. But I'm not in a good mood. And that's because the Dolphins are truly 5-2.

As my dad has pointed out several times, when something is on my mind, it stays on my mind for a LONG time. Right now, all I can think about is the Dolphins losing two weeks ago, not to the Steelers, but to the referees. Up by two with less than two minutes remaining, the Fins' defense made yet another enormously clutch play, forcing Ben Roethlisberger to fumble a yard short of the goal line, then recovering it. But the men in black and white didn't see it that way. The play was reviewed, and the ref came out and said that there was inconclusive evidence that the Dolphins came up with the pigskin. To me, Karlos Dansby holding the ball and being smothered by four other teal jerseys was evidence enough. But my opinion doesn't matter in the NFL standings.

My dad says, "Get over it. It's one game." But as I stated in my post, "The Most Exhilirating Game", there's no such thing as "just one game" in the NFL. In a 16 game season, one game is everything. Every playoff race is decided by one game. In this year's ridiculously loaded AFC, it's gonna take a lot of wins to keep playing in January. And the Dolphins got one taken away from them by people who don't even play the game.

I watch a lot of football, and in my opinion, the refereeing in the NFL is putrid. Absolutely embarrassing. They are being paid loads of money to be on the field during NFL games. And all they have to do is watch. They miss holding calls, facemasks, and fumble recoveries -- told you it's always on my mind -- from 10 feet away that I can see on my 28 inch TV screen! I have all the respect in the world for NFL players, who put their lives on the line every week for our entertainment, and to see everything they work for be plucked away by the referees is difficult to watch.

Instant replay helps, but it's not enough. Most of the time the replays are not conclusive enough to overturn the incorrectly called plays. Other times the instant replay booth doesn't even function (sorry Chargers/Ed Hochuli fans). ). Something needs to be done so that the only people deciding these teams' fates are the players themselves. Maybe we need robots to call the games. Or maybe the refs should just take a little bit more pride in their profession and get the calls right.

I would like that win back.

-Robby

p.s. You think refs know what they're talking about? Take a look at this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pMrLBVtwTc