Today, Patrick poses the question why Pats fans are so welcoming of Randy Moss, and in so pondering, he takes the lazy, well-beaten path that every other sports-writer in America is doing this week: he compares Moss’ trade to New England with TO’s signing in Dallas.
Newsflash: The two situations could not be more different.
The only thing in common is the bottom-line, generalistic notion that a mercurial and sometimes moody and distracting wide receiver left one team where he and the team did not see eye-to-eye for a new team. That’s it.
1. T.O. took more money to go to Dallas, Moss took less to go to New England.
2. T.O.’s contract with Dallas has ZERO morals/ethics/discipline clauses. Moss’s contract with New England allows the Pats to unconditionally release him if there are any disciplinary problems.
3. T.O. parties hard and runs with a crew of “undesirables,” throwing legendary parties that close down Atlantic City hotels. Moss lives in a retirement community and fishes in his spare time.
4. T.O. openly criticized his team (the Eagles) who were one year removed from the Superbowl and his coach (Parcells) who brought his teams to 3 Superbowls and won 2. Moss criticized his teams (the Vikings and Raiders) who are literally two of the worst run and least competitive franchises over the last decade in the NFL.
Sports call-in guys are so myopic. Remember that Dan Patrick ripped the Red Sox for spending so much money to get Dice-K, stating, “Oh, the Red Sox where too poor to re-sign Damon, but they’ll spend $101 Million on a guy who’s never pitched in the majors.” It looks that simple…that black-and-white; but it’s wrong. The Red Sox didn’t not sign Damon because they couldn’t afford him. They didn’t re-sign him because they were unwilling to wildly overpay for an aging centerfielder who can’t throw, gets hurt every year, and had 2 or maybe 3 decent years left in his body. Like not signing Pedro the year before, time has proven that decision correct. But note that Dan PAtrick doesn’t recant his assinine comparison.
Look, I’m not trying to single out Patrick. Every sports writer and personality does it. I’m also no Pollyanna for Randy Moss. I was the first Viking fan to state that he had to go in Minnesota. But I am willing to do what these commentators don’t: objectively analyze the circumstances of a given situation without giving in to the easy temptation of throwing every player and every team and every situation into the same bucket. Every situation is different and nuanced and complicated, but Patrick and many others don’t want to take the time to think about that. They just want the tag line in the opening monologue before they open the lines to Vinnie from Flatbush and Bob from Santa Fe.
Of course I keep listening. To quote Obi Wan, “Who is the bigger fool? The fool, or the fool who follows him?”
May 1st, 2007
This gives me the perfect forum to pimp the Fox Sports Radio guys over the ESPN guys. They are a) more entertaining and b) have less of an agenda to push because they don’t have as many sports leagues to push viewers to watch. I have been gradually migrating away from Mike & Mike to First Team on Fox with Steve Czaban, and from Dan Patrick to Chris Myers afternoon show. They’re on XM and ST 980 I believe. Give that a whirl if you’re sick of the ESPN guys. I know I am.
May 1st, 2007
Another difference:
TO has never been accused of being a lazy “I’ll play when I feel like it” loafer, unlike St. Randy.
And the notion that Moss “took less money” is off-base. It assumes that Moss would actually have gotten $9 million from the Raiders, which seems, umm, unlikely. More likely he would have been whacked. So the comparison is between what the Pats pay him and what he could have gotten elsewhere.
While Mike’s points are good wrinkles in the broad TO-Moss comparison, the comparison — two talented WRs who have been malcontent turds on multiple teams — holds.
May 2nd, 2007
Moss may or may not have been cut by Oakland, but it is true that he wouldn’t agree to re-negotiate his contract if he was traded to the Packers. He was willing to do it to come to the Patriots.
Your assertion that the Owens/Moss comparison holds is only true at the macro level in the same way that both marijuana and cocaine are drugs and are bad for you.