Random NFL Thoughts

Here are some thoughts on the NFL season, in no particular order and for no particular reason...

My Pats have no chance of repeating. None. Which is too bad because, as the fantastic Bob Ryan (the pink Boston Globe columnist, not the beige WRC-TV weatherman) pointed out last week out, Tom Brady is having his best season. (Especially when one considers how much injuries have severely limited his offensive options.)

Watching Edgerrin James pick up about five great blocks and then trample six or seven Jaguars players to death on his way to a 20-yard gain it occurs to me this undefeated-season thing might be for real.

So there. I've said it. And as a Pats fan I feel like I can't lose here. I've either graciously come out and said the Colts might go undefeated or I've totally jinxed them. And I don't care a lick whether the '72 Dolphins team gets to pop open the bubbly this year or not. I hate the "Fish" (their word, not mine) more than I hate the Colts.

I just happened across a Washington Post archive of Tony Kornheiser's roaringly funny "Skins Bandwagon" columns from 1991. (I was a college sophomore here in DC at the time.) This was as good as Kornheiser's excellent writing has ever been, and it just so happened at a time that Joe Gibbs and the Hogs were on their way to their final Super Bowl. ('Cuz it ain't happenin' around here now, Cuz, anytime soon. No matter how much God wants it.)

The Bandwagon was a rare case in which a columnist captured lightning in a bottle early on in a season (around week one), came up with and continuously built upon a perfect metaphor for the team's season, and perfectly documented the pulse of the team and its fans through a magical (yes, it was "magical") season. I think every 2nd or 3rd car in the DC area had a "Skins Bandwagon" bumper sticker during the 1991 season. There's some weird stuff in the archive (like 300-pound Hog Russ Grimm identified in this Bandwagon column as a wide receiver -- did that really make it into the print edition?), but all told it's nothing but good times. (Update: Or was TK being funny about Grimm being on the passing end of a flea flicker?)

Speaking of "good times," is ESPN's Sports Guy going to beat the living crap out of John Madden for so obviously stealing that line for use in a Verizon commercial? I hope so. That said, I suppose the line works better in a mobile-phone spot than in one for tough-actin' Tinactin.

I could not be happier that the J.E.T.S. Jets! Jets! Jets! are as bad as they are and yet not quite bad enough to land the supernaturally great Reggie Bush. I don't want him anywhere near my AFC East. Let the Texans continue to play like crap and win the Bushstakes. Go Texans! And that giant sucking sound you hear? It's the vacuum created in fantasy keeper leagues as GMs make Domanick Davis the most-cut player in the history of the fantasy sports.

Speaking of fantasy sports, I'd like to call out T.O., Jamal Lewis and Priest Holmes for helping make this my worst-ever season in any sport. (And I play football, baseball and basketball every year and have even been known to play fantasy soccer.) Game balls for each of you. Thanks guys.

Having seen the Eagles in person last Monday night in Philly I can safely say it's past time the team's fans make like the "Aints" -- those Saints fans who during the team's previous nadir mimicked the Unknown Comic and showed up at games with paper bags over their heads.

Super Bowl pick: Seahawks 30, Colts 27.