The Mallett-6?

Most of us caught an ESPN production called the Brady-6 this draft season. It was about the 6 busts drafted ahead of Tom Brady in the 2000 draft. The Patriots terminated Brady's slide and the rest is history.

For a completely different set of reasons, Ryan Mallett fell out of the top 15 zone all the way down to the #74 pick in the 2011 draft. The Patriots terminated Mallett's slide. 6 guys were drafted ahead of Ryan Mallett in this 2011 draft. There are already some speculations about whether history is repeating itself.

Certainly, all 6 of these QBs could go bust. I doubt it, but it could happen. Guys like Christian Ponder and Andy Dalton would have to become medical busts for that to happen. Jake Locker would have to washout. Certainly a significant number of the guys drafted ahead of Mallett will go bust.

Mallett could get cut at any moment if he lapses back into drug use. Bellichick won't put up with it. Yes, Mallett is a prime suspect in the 2011 bust sweep-stakes.

We shall have to see.

As we all know, Bellichick hasn't won a single game in the playoffs since he got caught cheating back in 2007. Since then, his Patriots are 0-3 in the playoffs. Perhaps they can win a playoff game with Mallett at the QB.

Call me foolish, call me irresponsible, but Brady just hasn't been the same since Justin Bieber cut his balls off in public. I think Bellichick senses this castration and feels the time is now to begin preparing Brady's replacement.

Rich, I know you worship and Brady's asshole, but you can stick a fork in, coz he's done.

The Dolphins have totally lost my respect

So Jason LaCanfora just broke into NFL Total Access with a special report on the Miami Dolphins. He confirmed Michael Lombardi's report that the courtship of Jim Harbaugh has basically ended in Miami. They will retain head coach Tony Sparano.

I am left stunned, amazed and horrified by all of this. Count me ignorant, but I was under the misapprehension that Sparano had already been fired. Prior to their courtship of Harbaugh, they were knee deep in the quest to get Bill Cowher and Jon Gruden. Didn't that automatically imply that Sparano was out and someone else would absotively posolutely be the head coach in Miami?

Apparently, the answer is no. Tony was evidently hanging around at Shula's, waiting for the pink slip. Thrice turned down by expert coaches, the Dolphins turned back to Tony and said "You da man!"

You gotta be fucking kidding me?!?!?!? What kinda bullshit is that?

This is the bullshit of a Busch-League organization! That's what kinda bullshit it is. According to La Canfora, their Busch-League handling of the situation had something to do with the fact that all three of these outstanding coaches turned Stephen Ross and the Dolphins down. Particularly in Harbaugh's case, the mishandling of a currently employed head coach didn't sit well.

You don't do a leadership figure like that. If they did this to Sparano, they might well do it again to Cowher, Gruden, or Harbaugh. I would not sign with a fucking organization like that.

Now that the Dolphins have cut Sparano's balls off and paraded those very same testicles around in public, seeking anyone else who just might take the job, they are now expecting Tony Sparano to coach them to a better record in the 2011 season.

Fat chance! Who in the organization is going to respect Sparano now that you have danced all over town with other gentlemen, wearing Sparano's balls for earrings? How can this guy face his players with authority? You have completely undermined the guy's position. Now he no longer has the basic respect he needs to function as head coach...

And you are going to run with him in 2011?

Right now, I wouldn't pay you a rat's ass for the Dolphins' future options. Jesus Christ! What a fiasco! Stephen Ross is a horse's ass.

This is the most jacked-up story I have read since Pat Bowlen fired Mike Shanahan and allowed Josh McDaniels to systematically destroy his football team.

So the Kroenke era begins...

Last night the NFL Network broadcast limited information on the NFL owners meeting taking place at the Ritz Carlton Buckhead in Atlanta Georgia. They did mention that there was a vote on Stan Kroenke. It was not precisely clear whether he won or not. I immediately looked it up on News.Google.com. The answer was yes, Stan has been approved as the new majority owner of the Rams. The facts of the case are these:

1. The approval vote was unanimous
2. Commissioner Goodell gave Stan a very nice endorsement.
3. Stan will be the 7th Ram owner in 73 years.
4. Many sources are reporting that Chip Rosenbloom and Lucia Rodriguez will still retain some interest in the team
5. Reports conflict, but VanRam states that Kroenke bought nearly all of the remaining 60% of the Rams for the sum of $450 million.
6. It is unlikely Chip Lucia will hold more than token stock in the Rams.
7. Stan has been given a grace-period to divest himself of the Nuggests and the Avalanche.
8. Regrettably, the NFL has not done away with the cross-ownership ban, or given Stan a pass. Rather he has a temporary exemption so that he can get into compliance with the rule.
9. Stan has until December of 2012, or until the end of the world, which ever comes first.
10. NFL Executive Vice President Eric Grubman says the Nuggests and Avalanche will be passed over to John Kroenke, the 30 year old son of Stan and Anne.
11. The spectre of a potential move to Los Angeles was raised immediately by the Atlanta media.
12. Stan said he would never lead the charge out of St. Louis, but he has to remain competitive, and to be competitive he needs revenues.
13. VanRam is reporting that the first item on Stan's agenda is a new Stadium and a return to profitability.
14. Certainly, a return to profitability is a critical aspect of the rebuilding project. You can't keep operating at a loss. You either staunch the bleeding or die at some point.

According to my fading memory, Stan began this trek back in late 1993 and early 1994 when a couple of guys named DeBartolo and Jones has spent Georgia under the table. The Rams were in considerable financial difficulty back then also. Georgia had no real money of her own. She was a Las Vegas Showgirl who had been married 5 times. She had nothing more than the money she inherited from Carroll Rosenbloom. While sizable by ordinary middle class terms, that fortune provided no means to compete with real billionaires like DeBartolo and Jones.

As an erstwhile NFC contender, the Rams needed to spend like the 49ers and Cowboys if they were to have any hope at all of launching a Super Bowl run. Georgia was basically forced to find a partner. Stan made it pretty clear he wanted to buy the whole enchilada outright. Georgia wouldn't sell the Rams outright. Eventually, they struck on a deal in which Stan bought 40%.

The first-refusal right Stan negotiated in that purchase contract made it absolutely clear that he was waiting on line to buy the rest of the team. Yesterday, 15 years of waiting in line came to an end. He could have made this process a year shorter, but with such monumental problems to grab hold of, why rush?

His timing makes sense. He will have approximately 4 calendar years in St. Louis to work out a new stadium deal before he can move to Los Angeles, if no progress is made. It should be noted that Stan could move the team tomorrow. He would simply have to pay penalties for breaking his lease early. No one expects him to do such a thing. The L.A. County stadium, either in Industry or downtown, is not ready yet.

It is unclear just who the progenitor of the move to St. Louis was in 1994. Stan is from St. Louis. Georgia was also from St. Louis. The city of St. Louis itself was beckoning a team. Some say that former President Shaw was the key exponent of the move. It's clear that Georgia finally made the move because she was (is) deeply hated by the people of Los Angeles, who believe she hijacked, then ruined the Rams. Georgia summed it up best when she said "I want to go where I am wanted."

You would be hard-pressed to find a more hated figure in Los Angeles sports history than Georgia Frontiere.

One thing the world must acknowledge: The Rams are now owned by the world's greatest sports Mogul. We'll see if he can return us to old form again.

I have to tell you, this news has had a strangely tranquilizing effect on me. I feel my heart strangely warmed, as John Wesley once did... I feel as if the Babylonian captivity has come to an end. Why do I feel that way? Well, let me tell you about it.

The subject of the first ever episode of PBS Frontline was the seamy, lurid and nasty side of sports. They spent a large block of time dealing with the very strange death of Carroll Rosenbloom. This is a fact not a theory. Check out the documentary.

Carrol was a guy who kept uncomfortably close ties with gambling men in Las Vegas. So close were these connections that he actually hooked up with their ex-wives. That would include Georgia. You see, Georgia was a Showgirl who had been married to a few managers of Las Vegas enterprises during the course of the 1960s and 1970s. You know what that means.

On April 2, 1979, Carrol decided to take a little swim in the Atlantic Ocean, off his private beach in Florida. There, he mysteriously encountered heart problems and drowned. PBS Frontline showed videotape interviews with mobsters who claimed Rosenbloom had been dragged under water by the legs and held down until he drowned. Steve Hartman of L.A. Sports talk fame, frequently claimed he had seen photos skin divers swimming away from location moments after Rosenbloom died. There were many gruesome autopsy photos taken of Carroll. Some of those photos alleged show electrical burn marks on one of his ankles.

Shortly thereafter, Georgia had Carroll's body cremated (something you never do to a Jew), she inherited the team, fired step-son Steve Rosenbloom (who was doing an absolutely fantastic job) and moved the team to Anaheim.

We all believe Georgia had Carroll hit by some of her ex-husband(s)'s associates, not to put to fine a point on it. Steve Rosenbloom always believed the same thing. Still does, according to what I hear.

In any case, the spectre of Carroll Rosenbloom's death/murder has hung over the team for a very long time. Whilst I doubt he would have objected to son Chip running the team, I hope he can rest in peace now that clean hands own the Rams.

The NFL Network's big chill

A friend of a friend commented that I rarely mention the NFL Network these days, and wondered if my interests had changed. He said he could tell I am watching more FoodNetwork than NFL Network these days. He wondered if this was a permanent change in interests or if I would blog about the NFL Network again during the regular season.

Well... The perception is a bit off, but there are many grains of truth there. There is also an interesting blog post found in this conversation.

You probably have noted that there are more ESPN references lately than NFL Network references. I am watching more NFL Live than NFL Total Access these days. Is that just because it is the off season?

No. Let me tell you about it.

There was a cleavage between me and the NFL Network during the 2010 draft campaign. I bet you know what caused it, too! Or do ya?

During the run up to the 2010 NFL Draft, I realized several very unhappy truths about the NFL Network. Specifically, I realized that this is the official propaganda mouth piece of the 32 front-offices and also HQ. Notice I did not use the term teams. I used the term front-offices. There is a big distinction there which I am well aware of. I chose my terms carefully and with reason. I mean to say exactly what I wrote.

Perhaps I am just a slow and dull old boy, but I had formerly considered sources such as Mike Mayock, Charley Casserly reliable and brutally honest. I knew some guys on the network were glad-handlers; Steve Marucci comes to mind. However, to the very last man, I watched each one of these guys change their tune regarding Sam Bradford and the Devaney-agenda.

When the draft began Charley Casserly was adamant that you never push a guy up the board because he fits a need. He vehemently defended drafting the best athlete regardless of position. He sited case after case showing that the worst busts happen when you reach for a guy because of need. He was opposed by coach Jim Mora Jr. who said that was a management position, and coaches get fired quick because of one or two missing players at key positions of need.

Casserly began the 2010 draft cycle insisting that Gerald McCoy was the #1 pick in the draft. He didn't like Bradford because of his injuries and his background in the Spread-Offense. I saw him do a dramatic about-face during the process. Why? Because Bradford stood on the side-line during the combine with his arms folded? On the strength of just one controlled workout? Was that it?

I have--in pure digital--Mike Mayock declaring that 2010 was a bad QB year. "All the QBs are injured and questionable for one reason or another," he said. I watched him do a dramatic about-face and support Devaney with the bullshit-line "a franchise quarterback trumps all." Early in the process, he said he didn't believe there were any franchise QBs in the 2010 draft. The closest thing to it was Sam Bradford, and he was much more than uncertain about Sam.

Why did Mike Mayock change his mind? Because Bradford stood on the side-line during the combine with his arms folded? On the strength of just one controlled workout? Was that it?

Folks, I could go on. There are many more dramatic examples of dramatic about-faces inside the NFL Network regarding Sam Bradford. Were there a good reasons for this dramatic about-face? Hell no!

There was a very bad reason for this about-face. Billy Devaney informed the NFL Network--off the record--that he was going to take Sam Bradford. He probably gave Adam Schefter this news also. This is why Adam Schefter gave us this news with total conviction, early on, when that seemed like a preposterous story. Of course, they would never admit they knew. This is for the same reason the old WWF would not admit that wrestling was scripted entertainment. This would blow the illusion.

As I have stated several times lately, the NFL Network has a promotional function. This promotional function is the primary function of the NFL Network. This leads us right into the pages of MIT Professor of Linguistics Noam Chomsky's "Manufacturing Consent." We should give some credit to Edward S. Herman also. He co-wrote the book.

"Manufacturing Consent" examines the propaganda model of the media. The thesis is pretty simple: Mass media supports large corporate and governmental interests. They have too. This is the side their bread is buttered on. This apparatus is used to form a soft-grip control on public opinion. It is a subtle, non-violent, means of evangelism and persuasion used to get people on board with the decisions big bosses are making at higher levels. Of course, this is better than the violent means of coercion used by totalitarian societies, but it is so unfortunate that weak minded fools repeat anything they hear through "authoritative news sources".

Everything Chomsky said in this book and movie applies triple-force to the NFL Network. I think the NFL Network was founded after Paul Tagliabue saw "Manufacturing Consent" and cried-out in joy "Eureka!"

I noted all of the elements of this propaganda model operating on the NFL Network during the 2010 draft campaign. These techniques and tactics were employed to get Rams fans on-board with Devaney's decision to draft a quarterback, and more precisely, Sam Bradford. The NFL Network is still using Chomsky-specific propaganda to do post-sale evangelism on Sam Bradford. Note Steve Wyche's recent use on the Bandwagon technique in fabulous fiction regarding Sam Bradford.

This is no conspiracy theory. The NFL Network is wholly-owned subsidiary of the NFL. It is the NFL. They do the NFL's bidding. This is all out in the open folks. This is no conspiracy. From it's very inception, the NFL Network was designed to be an NFL controlled source of information. You know that.

I know beyond any shadow of a doubt that Devaney knew he was going to make an unpopular and controversial pick when decided he was going to select Sam Bradford. I know that he knew many dedicated fan-forces were arrayed against this decision, and for differing reasons. I know he felt he needed help in persuading these fans to get on his bandwagon. I am certain he went to the NFL Network, gave them off-the-record information (which makes them look like genius analysts on draft day) and (in return) asked for their help in evangelizing Ram-fans.

This is why Mayock changed his tune. This is why Casserly changed his tune. This is why Lombardi said things like "He's drafted linemen in each of the past three years; he can't go back into that locker room and say 'I've drafted another lineman'". This is why you had everyone chanting the pious cant "the Rams need a a QB to give the fans and the team hope for the future."

Am I saying that the NFL Network is the official mouth-piece of the 32 NFL front-offices? Yep. Am I saying it is part of their official function to promote the agenda of the 32 NFL front-offices? Yep. Am I saying that Devaney runs one of those 32 NFL front-offices? Yep. Am I saying a gentileman's agreement was reached? Yep. Am I saying that there was an official directive inside the building to soft-pedal Devaney's agenda? Yep. Am I saying out that they carried out that agenda, among many others? Am I saying that they are currently engaging in post-sales evangelism? Yep.

Right now just about all of the star analysts on the NFL Network are congratulating Devaney on making the right move. We will see if they saying the same thing in 5 years when we may well have destroyed a #1 draft pick kid who we were grotesquely unprepared to receive in camp.

Are the Patriots rebuilding...?

Sometimes I watch the NFL Network and shake my head in disbelief. Last night one of the topics up for discussion was this: Are the Patriots rebuilding? Has the window closed? Is the Patriot way a thing of the past?

Eisen launched the discussion by mentioning that all the Patriot-Way guys are now on ESPN or in other locker-rooms around the league. Rich... I said the same thing last year! You can read my blog entry from September 12th, 2009 and see that I was way ahead of you. Naturally, the Patriots went 10-6, a fact I predicted on week 11, and they were a quick-out in the playoffs. The Ravens beat the shit out of them on their home field in the playoffs.

I do not think the Patriots are making the playoffs in 2010. I could be wrong about that. I still need to see every last 1st quarter of the pre-season before I can be sure. Right now, the Patriots don't look like a playoff team to me. I don't like Mel Kiper, but I totally agree with his comment about the Patriots: They looked like they had other plans for that afternoon during the playoff loss to the Ravens. They looked disinterested in the process that afternoon.

So why are the good folks at the NFL Network blind to the fact that the Patriot dynasty ended early in 2008 when the Commish handed the Lombardi to the New York Giants? There is a simple answer to this question: They aren't blind. They know. There are lies, damn lies, and then there is the promotional function of the NFL Network.

You have to understand that the NFL Network has but one purpose in life: To promote interest in the upcoming NFL season. To wit, they must cultivate interest in the New England region. It does not help their cause any if all of Boston tunes out in 2010 because the Patriots are over and done with. No, they need to promote interest in the New England region to keep those DirectTV subscribers watching those games.

Rich, I know you know. You know that I know. I know that you know that I know. You know that I know that you know. You are practicing outright intellectual dishonesty in your evaluation of the Patriots. You are doing so to fulfill mission objective #1 of the NFL Network: To promote interest in the upcoming NFL season, even in the New England area, where the Patriots are dwindling down.

Just to make sure the Patriot fans don't try to call me a homer, understand that I understand the NFL Network is soft-peddling the horror in St. Louis also. These guys have not been open and forthright in their questions and assessments of management direction in St. Louis. I think they do understand how bad things are, and they are deliberately understating the facts.

They are doing this for one reason: The NFL Network's prime directive is to promote interest in the upcoming NFL season, even in St. Louis, where my Rams are still dwindling down. They are interested in promoting the upcoming NFL season, even in Pittsburgh, where the Steelers are likely in for one gruesome year.

The grand sports media conspiracy and ESPN

Well, well, well... how the tide has turned for Tim Tebow this morning. Todd McShay appeared on NFL Live last night and said very flattering things about Tebow's progress. Colin Cowherd, a famed Tebow detractor, hosted Herman Edwards this morning and had a discussion about Tebow. Cowherd moderated his position extensively... With Herm Edward's help. Everyone on ESPN seems to be warming to Tebow. Mel Kiper Jr has not been heard on this subject.

All of this reminds me of grand media conspiracy I have heard about many times over the past 20 or so years. You see, the sports media needs consumer/customers. Media outlets need you every day. Big dips in interest are really bad business. It's hard to make up for the big dippers during the big spikes. If there were any strategies one might employ to even out interest to some degree, it would make a big difference to the bottom line.

Are there any such strategies? Sure. How about if we build up a super hero, and then we tear him down, and then build him up again. A larger than life figure in trouble is a compelling news story indeed. We see it all over the place. Especially if and when the kid is tremendously popular, sticking him in a rough patch will make for a compelling drama. You can produce an award winning soap opera as the kid tries to dig himself out of a hole.

So you build 'em up to tear 'em down, and tear 'em down to build 'em up.

Tebow's draft journey sure looks like it matches this profile. It looks like ESPN may well have applied one of their cookie-cutter templates for drama to Tim Tebow. Tebow was the perfect dupe for this as well. A tremendously popular kid, perceived as being too perfect, loaded with athletic ability and achievements. Fans in every one of the 32 NFL markets are campaigning for their teams to take Tebow.

Guess what folks at home? Tebow has no future. He just isn't an NFL Quarterback. Bad mechanics, comes out of the spread, he can't read a defense, and he's stupid. He's a good guy and all, but he just can't play NFL football. It's tragic really.

There is a traumatized reaction in the nation. People all over the country gasp. Fans in all 32 NFL cities look at each other in astonishment, and demand clarifications of this verdict. ESPN is happy to oblige. Just tune in. Kiper will give you the word.

Disappointed fans ask themselves if it is really true. Some lemmings go along with it. Those with age, experience, and confidence in their eyes reject Kiper's conclusions. An Internet battle of the blogs ensues. As the war heats up, ESPN's NFL team and the NFL Network do much better business than expected during this off season.

Then Tebow stumbles at the Senior Bowl. The critics become ferocious. The defense bears down. Tebow does well at the combine. Bullets are exchanged. Tebow does very well at his ProDay. NFL HQ invites Tim Tebow to come to Radio City Music Hall on draft day.

Suddenly ESPN turns around. Tebow is really an okay guy. With a year or two of development, he will find his way in the NFL. He's a developmental project, but he will be fine. Tebow got some pretty fine endorsements last night on NFL Live. Troy Aikman, Archie Manning, Bob Greise, and John Gruden all gave him ringing endorsements. It's looking good for Tebow again.

The people are relieved. We would hate to see such a great kid disappointed in life. Rejoicing begins in the nation. The 32 campaigns to draft Tebow go back to regular business.

Some very bitter college football fans who lost to Florida are extremely pissed, and write some fantastically overwrought rants. Check this one out. That one is so overheated, so over the top, it must have been designed over the course of several days or several minutes.

Anyhow... I am pretty irritated with myself. How the hell did I fall prey to such a simple diversionary ploy? At ripe old age of 43, after 30 years of observing the sports media, how did I buy into this stunt?

Because I am one those guys campaigning for my team to take Tebow, that's why. Still I should have been smarter about this.

We need J-Peezy

I don't really want to comment on Warren Sapp's present difficulties. It is sufficient to say that he has been taken off the air on the NFL Network... perhaps temporarily. There is a bit of a gap left by the big DT. We are missing the defensive report. What can we do in the meantime to replace him?

Joey Porter did a tremendous job filling in for Sapp on the NFL Network this Super Bowl Sunday. I have always liked the guy, and he is from Bakersfield, which practically makes him a hommie of mine (I am from Fresno). When I last checked, he returns home to Bakersfield for the off-season.

Why not put Peezy on the NFL Network this off season? He only needs to travel about 120 miles to the get to NFL Network HQ during the off season. It is an easy drive. Just get him a hotel for 2 or 3 nights a week.

Rush Limbaugh and the PC HQ of the NFL

When I got home from work last night, I was rather amazed by some of the things I saw on ESPN. Less so with the NFL network. Before playing a nice game of "He said, She said" let us establish the ground rules for the interpretation of PC statements.

First, let us forever dismiss in the Kindergarten of social inquiry the preposterous notion that PC is about being Liberal. That is simply not true. Second, we must dismiss the misguided theory that PC is about avoiding offending anyone. Third, let us also dismiss, with some consideration, the idea that PC is about establishing a fascist-enforced liberal orthodoxy of speech and thought. That was almost true for a time during the early 1990s.

No folks, PC is not about any of those things. Rather, it is about outright intellectual dishonesty. It is about not saying what you think. It is about not dropping a card which can be used against you at a later time; ostensibly when you are running for office, or when you need a favor. It is about making ambiguous statements that people can interpret as they please, without clarity. This allows you to become all things to all people. That is something most politicians want to do.

Did Roger Goodell say he would oppose Rush Limbaugh as an NFL owner? Nope. You read that into his statements. You had some help. Remember PC is about outright intellectual dishonesty, and making unclear statements that people can read as they will. Did Jim Irsay say that he was a liberal and would never allow a conservative to buy an NFL franchise? Nope. You may have interpreted it that way, but you would be wrong.

No folks, what these two gentlemen said was more like this: "We of the NFL market a product. We want to sell to everybody. We have a lot of Black customers. Right or wrong, Black folks tend to hate Rush. Ergo, we just can't allow him in the organization because he just might spoil one segment of the market. We don't want that."

When you strip the unclarity from Roger's statements, he basically said that the NFL cannot afford to have a highly political owner of any type. That's all he said. Any highly political dude is going to be controversial with some segment of the vast NFL market. Ergo any highly political owner would polarize the NFL market. This cannot be allowed. It would be bad for marketing.

Let's do three bits of truth telling while we are at this. I hate PC with all my heart and soul, so let me be brutally honest with you.

1. Reports of Rush Limbaugh's racism are vastly over-stated. Regrettably, the Black community--or at least certain bad leaders like Jessie Jackson--have had a tendency to pull the race card against any guy who might oppose social welfare policy or affirmative action. Any opposition to these two planks gets you blacklisted as a racist immediately. There is a massive logical fallacy in this reasoning, but this has always been the argument.
2. Reports of the NFL's anti-racism are fairly exaggerated. If you could really see inside the minds of some NFL owners, you would find a degree of racism there that would dwarf anything inside the mind of Rush Limbaugh.
3. Owners are going to be required to be a-political for marketing reasons, not for any egalitarian reasons. It's a financial thing. It has nothing to do with ideology.

So what about the famous Donovan McNab statements made by Limbaugh? Truth be told, he was absolutely and completely right. Those statements were made in the run up to the 2004 Super Bowl which featured the Eagles and the Patriots. Donovan's horrendous performance in the 4th quarter sure justified everything Rush said about Donovan. Donovan made Rush look great in that terrible 4th Quarter.

Do you remember the game? Did you watch the game? Did you actually really watch the game? I saw the Eagle defense absolutely hammering the Patriot offense by the 4th quarter. The Patriots were on the Ropes. The Eagle offense had ample opportunity to win that game in the 4th quarter. They did not. Terrible passing and horrendous clock management by McNabb lost the game for the Eagles. It was one of the most pitiful performances I have ever seen by a QB in the clutch moments of a game.

I am not the only one who knows this to be the fact of the matter. Why don't you consult Terrel Owens about this question. He sure felt that way, and with good reason. Donovan fucked it up. Instead of admitting that Donovan fucked up the Super Bowl, the NFL powers that be label Terrel a big trouble maker, they throw Rush off of ESPN, and they deride all the Philly fans who know that Donovan fucked the game up.

To this day, many Eagle fans know they cannot win the Super Bowl with McNabb at the helm. They know this because of that terrible Super Bowl performance. Both ESPN and the NFL Network continue to beat Philly fans for expressing themselves on this subject.

You know why? Because it messes up the marketing campaign, that's why.