I could rant on and on about the injustices of who is on the all star teams and who isn't. I am not going to. In reading up about this topic today I realized where the problems lie with this whole set up. The problems do exist and they are present both on the player side as well as the coaching side and yes some of it is even on us the fans.
As for the problems well lets start with the players. Upon finding out that his team mate Al Thornton hadn't been selected to the Rookie Sophmore game. Casell magnified the players slightly biased opinion with the following "There's a conspiracy going on. We must be in the state of Florida now. Did they watch that game, Jersey against the Clippers? Did they see Al Thornton that night?" Really, Sam. Do you want a second to pull that back. ONEGAME!? you want to know if they looked at one game. The simple fact that you pointed to one high performance as a signature game and all he really did was manage to lead for that one game. Well Sam, thats a sign the rest of his work really isn't that impressive.
As for the coaches, I don't know if they are right or if they are wrong but the perspective of the coaches became clear when Stan Van Gundy said "Shaq sort of is the All-Star game, sort of what the All-Star game is all about,'' Van Gundy, who coached O'Neal in Miami added. "It's celebrity and the people the fans want to see and everything else..." When you look at that it pretty much clears a lot of the decisions that they make as far as I am concerned.
As far as the fans culpability in all this. That is the white elephant in the room. The All-Star game is not about talent. It is clearly a popularity contest. So when the balloting comes out and we all start to debate why one guys play is better than the next guy and who got snubbed. We really need to settle down. Yeah it isn't always (or ever) a true representation of the best talent in the NBA but it is usually fun (less and less lately but I think this year we'll see a turn around). So let's just enjoy it for what it is.
Here is a great article on who made it and who got snubbed from
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So it appears we now know who will have the unfortunate luck pleasure of playing in 2008. According to ESPN the Saints and the Chargers will face off in London during this coming season. If you missed my rant about international play in the NFL you can check it out here.
In addition to my numerous problems I stated there I have developed a new one. In the interest of parity, why not have the Raiders and the Chargers or even the Broncos or Cardinals. Just pick any two teams that are at least reasonably geographically close. Traveling around the world isn't enough they needed to add an extra two timezones for the Chargers.
As far as the Saints side of things are you trying to tell me there is a huge clamoring in europe for the New Orleans Saints, somehow I doubt it. I mean there isn't even a clamoring for the Saints in New Orleans.
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New Orleans Saints - The Saints have declined in Offensive Pass Rush and overall Yardage. The rush can be explained through injury, but as far as the pass yardage. You sure, you didn’t want to try a little harder to keep Joe Horn(though I am sure he isn’t all that happy with the Vick-less, Petrino-less, win-lite Falcons). I do believe Marquis Colston will be a premier wide receiver in this league. There has to be that clutch guy that finds the yard marker on 3rd-and-6.
A lot was made of the fact that the Saints were not able to run the ball with Reggie Bush. I think the return from injury by Deuce Staley will allow Bush to go to a more useful role of being slipped in to different spots all over the field so that he must constantly be accounted for by the defense. Frankly, I was surprised that an offensive mind the Sean Payton is supposed to me was unable to find creative wrinkles for Bush. I am finding myself shocked to suggest that he look to the Defensive minded Bears and how they began to use Devin Hester as the season moved towards an end.
While the offensive side of the ball slid across all yardage categories; the defense did manage to improve in rush yardage. They did however slide so far in pass yardage that it caused them to slide in overall rank from 11th to 26th. This becomes even more concerning considering the fact they brought in Jason David in during the off-season to improve their pass defense. The only bright spot in the defensive backfield was Mike Mackenzie. His brightness dimmed toward the end of the season. He is facing off-season recovery from season ending ACL surgery.
In the up coming draft they have to address that defensive backfield. They should be looking at Kenny Philips (S-Miami), Mike Jenkins (CB-S. Florida), or Malcolm Jenkins (CB-OSU). I like Malcolm Jenkins skills but there is some question as to whether he has the speed to play corner at the next level. He may and up as a Safety, but with the Saints in need at both spots, they can take him on with very little risk.
Head Coach Sean Payton seems to be at no risk of losing his job this off-season. I have some serious doubts about him. He took the team, with all it’s post Katrina feel good momentum, and the novelty of Reggie Bush to the playoffs. Only to implode this year in the weakest division in football. The real litmus test will come next year to see how he rebounds from this. I also predict that if Jason Garrett doesn’t land a head coaching job this off-season, Payton’s performance next year will greatly influence how Garrett is viewed.
