More on Favre's Overrated-ness

I was several hundred words into a comment on 'dowd's post below and decided to just wave my editorial magic wand and turn it into a post. What else are you going to go read about? The NBA playoffs? Phssaw.

Following up on the end of Boilerdowd's post on Favre....that's the thing... the media is still completely in love with this drama queen. Still making comments that sound like a parody, about how he has "childlike enthusiasm" for the game, continuing to only refer to him by both names, and so forth.

To think this guy is the answer for almost any team right now is complete lunacy. He hasn't been good for years, his last season in GB was an anomaly -- look at his two seasons before that and the one after it. He's not been good for a while... sure, he can sling it. So can a lot of other guys. But crushing interceptions are the norm with Fav-re and he's not got the ability to win games by himself anymore -- if he ever did.

He won ONE Super Bowl. So did Trent Dilfer. By the way he's talked about, you'd think he'd won 3 or 4. He won ONE and choked in another in which he was heavily favored.

Yes, he leads in all-time TD passes. He also leads in all-time INTs.

When it comes down to it, if you could have any of these guys in their primes -- for one game or for a career, take your pick of which hypothetical -- would Favre be near the top of the list?

Peyton Manning
Tom Brady
Dan Marino
Dan Fouts
John Elway
Joe Montana
Steve Young
Donovan McNabb
Troy Aikman
Warren Moon

Okay, there's ten QBs I'd rather have. And that was easy. Sure, I've got no doubt you could argue some of them, but is Favre the clear cut number one on this list... in any scenario? I don't think he is. When he was at his best he was among the best... but he was always a disaster-risk, always a risk to throw a backbreaking interception.

I'll give him some credit -- looking at that link of his career, a critical thing you notice is that he really only had one truly bad season, record-wise (4-12 in 2005 with GB). But if ever there was a somewhat misleading statistic, that's it, isn't it? On the surface, that seems to support him being an all-time great, but when you then consider how many times those good seasons ended with disappointing -- and often premature -- playoff losses, you begin to get the full picture.

Is Brett Favre an all-time great? Statistically, I suppose so... though I think you have to ding him some "greatness" points for how many picks he has thrown. If Hank Aaron held the all-time home run record but also held the all-time strikeout record, or all-time GIDP record... or hit .215 for his career....well, you might devalue it a little, right?

But if Brett Favre the unquestionable "winner" that his followers try to suggest?

I really don't think so.

LeBron Impressed With Himself

"Just two great guys, going at it... two of the best in the league, you know."

This was the soundbyte from the postgame press conference yesterday after the Cavs lost to the Celtics in Game 7 up in Boston (of course it was in Boston -- the C's don't win on the road).

I don't know why it bothers me but it does. I mean, that sounds a little arrogant. And I know great players are cocky, etc., and they need to believe they're good. But to talk about yourself in that third-person way, just bugs me. I know Bird and Magic were cocky, too, but I just can't imagine them talking like this. And then LeBron is comparing himself to Dominique Wilkins and Pierce to Larry Bird. Not quite, LeBron. I don't think Dominique shot 35% in that series.

In fact, had LeBron even shot remotely close to what a great such as himself should shoot, the Cavs would have easily stolen one in Boston and would be moving on to the Eastern Finals right now.

ESPN, of course, is seeking to anoint this game as an "epic." Which is something ESPN does, but hey, can you blame them? They want ratings. But was it really? It was a competitve Game 7 so that's good... but it was a series where a team that should really have dominated (Boston) once again eeked out a 4-3 series win. Is that epic? Do you think the people of Boston now consider Paul Pierce to be in the same category as Larry Legend? Not so sure about that.

"Now they have something to remember in Boston other than what Dominique [Wilkins] and Larry [Bird] did. They'll remember what Paul and LeBron did," James said.

Really? You think so? I don't.

Another ARod-ian Post

Ah, those were the days. The New York Post in 2004 when the Yankees completed their trade of Alfonso Soriano and a bucket of used baseballs to the Texas Rangers for the best player we'll probably ever see and $21 million. That was totally fair, too.

Well, now, after all the baloney about him never being a Yankee again, it looks like our constant drama queen/distraction will be a Yankee for another decade. Or until he completely cracks under the pressure and mows down three bums in Central Park.

I'm sharing this post with you from the Dallas-Fort Worth airport because that's where I am stranded right now, waiting for a flight that will get me back to New York at about 5 AM. It was supposed to get in at 11:55 PM. Well-done, Continental, well-done indeed.

But I'm digressing.

To keep you entertained -- because that's my eternal goal -- and to keep on the subject of ARod, check out this post from Fire Joe Morgan, perhaps my favorite blogsite out there. It talks about how overrated David Eckstein is and also points out a recent ESPN.com poll that asked fans whether they'd rather have ARod or Eckstein. Amazingly, it wasn't 100% - 0% in favor of ARod, proving that not only Tim McCarver and Joe Morgan are idiots when it comes to understanding anything about baseball and what makes a good player.