I was an NFL 'beat writer' for four years. What does that mean? Well, it means from 1997 (in Memphis) to 2001 preseason, I covered for my local, daily newspaper every Tennessee Titans home game except one (Christmas season in '97 vs. Steelers -- I went to Vegas), and from playoffs 1999 (Music City Miracle thru Super Bowl) through preseason 2001, I reported every game, home AND away (except a Monday night in D.C.). For whatever it's worth, there are fewer full-time NFL writers than NFL players. Not paid as well, though. I left the business when asked to accept lower status and less pay for my then-significant, but part-time work.
Additionally, I've been a Titans season ticket holder before, during, and after all that. My name, literally, is emblazoned on an LP Field wall as an original PSL holder.
All of which is to say, beyond spending 25 years being paid to write about sports, I have a vested interest in the NFL. Which is why this weekend was so odd: in three playoff games so far, I wanted 5 of the 6 teams to lose. With only tonight's Arizona-Green Bay yet to start, I've spent less than an hour watching pro football during its supposed elite post-season.
Although I'm no particular fan of the Cincinnati Bengals -- beyond being an admirer of their all-time, all-NFL founder, Paul Brown (for whom, interesting, another division team is named) -- I really wanted to see them beat the Jets, whom I loathe. Not sure why, really, except that I though Eric Mangini got too much credit there, despite getting fired, just like I think Bill Belichek gets too much credit in Foxboro (and nationally -- read that, 'from Peter King', when he's not canonizing Brett Favre!) for being astute enough to hire hyper-competent coordinating assistants. And, I don't like Rex Ryan, as often is the case with the offspring of colorful characters. Father Buddy Ryan was eccentric and irascible. Son Rex, rubbing off the same routine, is tiresome. Additionally, he used to be with the Ravens.
I don't like Baltimore because they were whiny and chippy during the Brian Billick years spent in the same division I covered with the Titans. Those two teams really didn't like each other, but often had to -- and did, usually originating in Baltimore -- invent reasons for it. Ray Lewis is going to the Hall of Fame instead of jail, where he belongs. Billick will forever be recognized as a Super Bowl-winning coach despite the Ravens never being as good as the team's talent beyond that single year.
Re New England, see above re Belichek, the cheater (I mean, really -- does ANYONE believe he didn't know his operative was filming the other team, and that it was against the rules?). Once you're proven to be a liar and a cheat, the rest of your accomplishments come into question. I didn't make that rule, by the way -- it's called the 'Judeo-Christian ethic'.
As for Dallas and Philly -- do I really have to explain why either of these teams rub me the wrong way? For Dallas, let's just remind them that the owner doesn't REALLY matter to anyone except himself, okay? And the Eagles? Well, aside of Rush being largely correct about McNabb -- and being drummed out of league ownership for it even though a racial epithet-spewing celebrity pop singer (http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/280525) is part-owner of the Dolphins -- how do we gloss over the fact that being a successful NFL coach apparently is more important (and we're OKAY with that!) to Andy Reid than being a dad, whose sons (plural!) are imprisoned for being violent drug users and dealers? I'd even grant that Reid seems like a really nice guy. Lousy fathers often are -- it frequently goes hand-in-hand. Doesn't make his priorities stand out in the pantheon of right-thinking, though.
Looking ahead to the Arizona-Green Bay matchup later, I have a definite preference, but no animosity toward either team. I'm a huge fan of Kurt Warner, despite his having ruined my sport-writing apogee by beating my Titans in Super Bowl XXXIV. He's every bit as good -- as both a player and a person -- as his reputation says. His opponents can vouch for the former; his teammates frequently vouch for the latter. Warner is a Hall-of-Famer whether or not he is ever enshrined in Canton!
