Rob’s Rants on Vick, Eagles play calling, Gerry with a G, Bandwagon BS, Goodell, Clemens, ND

          It’s that time of the week where I let it rip about whatever’s on my mind from the last week in sports. Here’s Rob’s Rants for the week:

 

·       People in Philadelphia need to get over the 7 games that Mike Vick had two seasons ago when he looked like a quarterback who could run a west coast offense. I’ll admit it, I was loving it too. But he hasn’t even shown a resemblance to his play in that stretch since. I’m not saying he’ll never have a good game in this system again, but he’s not the guy.

·       Stop me if you’ve heard this before: Andy Reid only exacerbates the problem of his quarterback with the absurd number of pass plays he calls. Oh, wait, you have heard it before . . . for 13+ seasons. Vick attempted 56 passes in a 17-16 game in which he had a running back rush for 110 yards on 20 carries. That running back would be LeSean McCoy, by the way, who is only one of the best backs in the league. I’m at the point where I question if Steve Young or Joe Montana could run the offense with Reid calling the plays.

·       I saw the Rick Reilly story on ESPN Monday Night Countdown about Gerry Sandusky – the Baltimore Ravens’ play-by-play guy who is harassed by people all the time lately because his name sounds like Jerry Sandusky. In the story, which was very well done, Gerry explained how people on twitter tell him how he can’t change the spelling of his first name and fool them. No, can’t fool them. Geniuses. His twitter is about, duh, his job. He looks at least 20 years younger than the other guy. And, oh, by the way, why the hell would the other guy be a) tweeting and b) tweeting about the Ravens? It truly never ceases to amaze me the number of people willing to raise their hand and say, “Yes, I’m a complete jackass.”

·       I’m sick of hearing people talk about the “Phillies bandwagon.” Don’t get on now. I believed the whole time. First of all, shut up, those words don’t really even mean anything. They’re some hollow attempt to make you feel like you got big balls, and, let’s face it, if you’re going with this route you don’t. Secondly, no you didn’t believe the whole time, and if you did you’re an idiot. And before anybody gives me any crap, I got tickets in July for August and late September, and watched most of every game. No I didn’t think the games would mean anything, but I enjoy watching the Phillies. But who cares? Half the people saying it probably don’t even care that much about the Phillies.

·       Roger Goodell needs to put the damn Bounty Gate to rest. He already screwed the Saints for the season, and had his suspensions of players slapped back in his face last week. Just end it. Bring back the coaches and let this franchise move on. Goodell is making this a potential season-long mess, even more than he already did. If he tries to re-suspend the players, he should be fired by the owners. He won’t be because of the legal battle from former players over concussions, but he has created a mess that didn’t need to happen.

·       Roger Clemens, who is 50 years old, hasn’t pitched in the Majors in about 5 years, and has a large portion of his career questioned because of steroids, has the stones to tell the one team willing to put his fat butt on a mound that he’ll only pitch against a contender. The Astros, who suck by the way, should tell him to kiss their ass, but they’re just as culpable in this potential disgrace as Clemens. They seem poised to bend over for a guy who pitched for the Sugar Land Skeeters of the Atlantic League . . . for what? A couple of good nights of gate receipts? Bud Selig should finally put the “good of the game” clause to proper use and tell the Astros this ain’t happening.

·       I’ve mellowed on Notre Dame over the years because my dad was a big fan in the last years of his life. In fact, I probably root for them as much as any college team, which isn’t saying much because not having attended a Division I school college sports are pretty much about the point spread or tournament brackets for me. Yes, ND’s arrogance has reared its ugly head again as they hop from the Big East to the ACC in all sports . . . except football, their only sport that’s actually relevant. (Ok, there’s only two relevant college sports, but you get the idea.) Fine, I can live with that because it’s who they are. But it would be nice if Brian Kelly would stop screwing up the season. Does anyone actually know why Tommy Rees isn’t starting over Everett Golson at this point? ND made its statement by suspending Rees for the opener after he got arrested this off-season. Now what? He unexpectedly sat in the home opener until, you know, Kelly wanted to actually win the game. Now Rees isn’t starting Saturday? Someone tell Kelly he can’t claim he’s teaching a morality lesson when he calls the kid his “closer” and plays him when the lesson interferes with winning. If they want to be arrogant about their football team, sniffing the BCS sometime in the century would be a really neat idea.