SubscribeMarch Mishegas: Football edition
What is going on in the NFL these past few days?
Of primary importance to Jewish pigskin fans: The Dallas Cowboys released guard Kyle Kosier. Kosier and Igor Olshansky were Dallas teammates before Olshansky was released last season. He was signed by the Miami Dolphins but was busted for marijuana possession and is currently unemployed.
Kosier, who turned 34 in January, broke in with the San Fransisco 49ers in 2002. He played one season (2005) with the Detroit Lions and had been with Dallas for the last six years.
To borrow from Willie Nelson, my [football] heroes have always been [Jewish Dallas] cowboys.
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Seems the NFL has taken a dim view of players going at it with a vengeance, so to speak. The New Orleans Saints were busted for using “bounties” as incentive for their defense. For weeks we’ve been wondering what kind of punishment would be meted out. Now we know: Head Coach Sean Payton has been suspended for an entire season. Funny, but his one one of the names that didn’t come up much. I thought the defensive coaches would be the ones punished. Guess it’s a question of he should have known what was going on and stopped it. According to the Sports Illustrated website, “general manager Mickey Loomis earned an eight-game suspension and assistant coach Joe Vitt was suspended for the first six games of the season. New Orleans also has to pay a $500,000 fine and will forfeit its second-round draft picks in 2012 and ’13.”
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And last but not least, Tim Tebow is coming East to play for the J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets Jets!!! There had been speculation that he would serve as Peyton Manning’s backup after the future Hall-of-Famer was signed by the Denver Broncos following 13 seasons at the helm of the Indianapolis Colts.
Show of hands, and no disrespect intended at all, but how many of you believe that Tebow would not have garnered as much attention if not for the fact that he’s so up-front with his religious beliefs? Yes, he had a great run for the broncos last year with some games that invite questions as to divine intercession, but haven’t other rookies had similarly impressive starts. Some continue on that path and others are just flashes in the pan.
Frankly, it was bad enough when Tebowmania was in the Mile High City. I’m not looking forward to it in the New York market. At least his name doesn’t lend itself to a lot of bad wordplay, like Linsanity.
Presumably Tebomania won’t work nearly as well in New York to the extent it’s based on his religiosity.