The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

After the New England Patriots defeated the Los Angeles Rams by the final score of 13-3 in Super Bowl LIII last night, as it was quarterback Tom Brady's 6th title, equalling Michael Jordan, the comparisons started pouring in faster than creepy robot commercials by TurboTax. "Is Tom Brady as dominant as Michael Jordan?" "Is Tom Brady the Michael Jordan of the NFL?" "Is Tom Brady the greatest athlete in history?" I've always despised GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) debates for many reasons. Most importantly, games evolve over the course of time, so it's virtually impossible to compare a player from the 1960s to a player from today. It's impossible to say with any certainty, "X player from the '60s would have put up Y number's in today's game while Z player from today would have put up XX numbers in the '60s." So how can we then ultimately decide who the better player was? Is it simply based on how they dominated the le...

Former Washington Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann once said that when things are going well, the quarterbacks receives too much credit and when things aren't going well, the quarterback receives too much blame. Given all of the talk leading up to the Super Bowl and the immediate commentary (and memes) following it, I'd have to say that quote is often times true, especially with regard to Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning (at least as far as blame goes). For the two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, the two dominant conversations surrounded Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman's post-NFC Championship game comments and Peyton Manning's legacy. It seemed like not a day passed when a sports talking head asked, "Does Peyton Manning's legacy rest on this game?" My response? No. For the game, Seattle was 7 for 12 on 3rd downs. The Seahawks galloped for 135 yards rushing on 29 carries (4.7 per). Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson posted ...

So, as I tend to always do during this time of the year, I watched a bowl game last night - the Sugar Bowl between Michigan and Virginia Tech. Both were controversial at-large selections for a BCS game and they did battle last night in New Orleans. I watched the game in its entirety and I still think I'm being delusional when I look at the final score, which was Michigan 20 Virginia Tech 17 in overtime. For any unbiased person whom watched the game will say, Virginia Tech dominated from start to finish. They were the better of the two teams, without question. Let me roll off some numbers here: First downs: Michigan - 12, Virginia Tech - 22 3rd down efficiency: Michigan - 4/13 (30.8%), Virginia Tech - 6/15 (40.0%) Total Yards: Michigan - 184, Virginia Tech - 377 Passing Yards: Michigan - 128, Virginia Tech - 214 Completions - Attempts: Michigan - 10/22 (45.5%), Virginia Tech - 19/28 (67.9%) Yards per pass attempt: Michigan - 5.8, Virginia Tech - 7.6 Rushing Yards: Mi...