HarveyWallbangers
05-08-2006, 10:03 AM
The Arizona Cardinals stopped selling season tickets last week for their new 63,400-seat stadium in suburban Glendale, which means they're probably about 5,000 seats shy of selling out every game this year. (The Cardinals will keep some seats for single-game sales.)
Their last sellout: Sept. 24, 2000, when 69,568 fans crowded into Sun Devil Stadium -- mostly to see the Green Bay Packers. The Pack whipped Arizona 29-3 that day.
Keep five alive
Peter King, SI.com
I know this isn't a typical lead for Monday Morning Quarterback, but I find it absurd that the NFL Competition Committee, which will debate the issue this week, might not allow Reggie Bush to wear number 5 for the Saints. Here are five reasons why I think they should let him.
1. It would not be the end of Western Civilization. Running backs, according to the league, are not allowed to wear single-digit numbers, and I'm sure the NFL's concern about Bush's request has something to do with setting a bad precedent for other players to change to non-traditional numbers. (Oh, you mean like Keyshawn Johnson, a wide receiver, wearing the decidedly non-wide-receiver number 19?) The Saints currently don't have a number in the 20s or 30s available for Bush; they'd have to get a current player to switch jersey numbers. I hear it will likely be Fred McAfee, the 15-year veteran back who now wears No. 25. Number changes happen all the time, but in this case, why force it? And this would not be precedent-setting. The NFL saw to that when it gave Johnson, the top pick in 1996, permission to wear 19.
2. Everyone knows Bush as No. 5. After leaving New Orleans following the draft two weekends ago, I heard that the league's Competition Committee would listen to an appeal from Bush and the Saints and then make its decision some time this week. What the committee was told by Mike Ornstein, Bush's marketing maven, is that all of Southern California knows Bush as No. 5, which he has worn since he was a high school star, and that California is a lucrative merchandising market for the NFL. More people in that area will buy a Saints jerseys with the No. 5 on it than would buy a Saints jerseys with a 25.
"He's synonymous with 5,'' said Ornstein, who sent this week's SI, which features Bush in a computer-generated Saints No. 5 uniform, to each member of the Competition Committee and to several league officials, urging them to allow Bush to wear 5. And he told them how wild New Orleans was over Bush during draft weekend. I can attest to that. Now, Saints fans will be just as wild about him if he wears another number. That's for sure. But is there any good reason to make him do so? That Saints want him to wear 5, too. They helped with his appeal to the league.
3. Paul Hornung wore 5. You might remember him. Played at Notre Dame. Played for Vince Lombardi and the Green Bay Packers. Was elected to the Hall of Fame. When he took the field wearing No. 5, the earth did not spin off its axis.
4. Merchandising, people. Last year, the sales of Randy Moss and Terrell Owens jerseys earned those players more than $1 million each. Here's how the merchandising works. Say a Reebok replica jersey is sold in the store or online for $150. The NFLPA gets 7.5 percent of the proceeds of the jersey. That's $11.25. Of that $11.25, $9 is turned over to the player. There is no doubt in my mind that the hottest jersey in the league in the preseason would be Bush's No. 5 Saints jersey ... much hotter than if Bush were given, say, 25. That leads us to something the NFL will definitely understand ...
5. Helping Katrina victims. Bush is smart. Ornstein is shrewd. How about if Ornstein calls a member or two of the Competition Committee and says, "Look, Reggie will take half of his proceeds from jersey sales this year and give them to Katrina relief. Think about it. That's maybe $750,000. It might be a million. You know how far 750K goes on the Gulf Coast? It'll rebuild seven houses in the Lower Ninth Ward -- if they ever get around to having a plan for the reconstruction there.''
The NFL has taken major strides toward helping New Orleans and the Gulf Coast recover from Katrina. What better way to take further steps than to have Louisiana's new hero stand in front of a news conference this weekend at the Saints' mini-camp and say, "I truly appreciate that the NFL did for me what it did for another USC player, Keyshawn Johnson, by allowing me to wear a non-traditional number for a running back. To show my appreciation, I'm here today to announce that I'm donating half of the proceeds of all my jersey sales to help Katrina relief.
"The hurricane and flooding happened more than eight months ago, but we've got to focus on doing more for the people of this area, in both Louisiana and Mississippi. I hope that I'm able to give more than $1 million to help rebuild the shattered lives of people in places like the Lower Ninth Ward here in New Orleans and in places like Pass Christian and Biloxi, Miss. So for every one of you who buys my jersey, you'll be donating money to the people who still desperately need it.''
Let's say people get fired up about this jersey, and buy it in record numbers. Imagine the power of Reggie Bush handing the mayor of New Orleans and the governor of Mississippi twin checks in October. That, ladies and gentlemen, is power. The power of 5.
Quote of the Week I
"I told him, 'You're going to have to make a big adjustment as far as the offense goes. I don't worry about him making that adjustment, but it is going to be different for him. And in this offense, you're not going to catch 100 balls. It's just not going to happen.'' -- Bill Parcells, on new Cowboys receiver Terrell Owens.
Quote of the Week II
"We really, I think, want the same thing. I've had players before that I've been warned about. 'Why'd you do this? Why'd you do that?' And some of them that I was warned about turned out to be the best guys.'' -- Parcells, on Owens.
Stat of the Week
The Arizona Cardinals stopped selling season tickets last week for their new 63,400-seat stadium in suburban Glendale, which means they're probably about 5,000 seats shy of selling out every game this year. (The Cardinals will keep some seats for single-game sales.)
Their last sellout: Sept. 24, 2000, when 69,568 fans crowded into Sun Devil Stadium -- mostly to see the Green Bay Packers. The Pack whipped Arizona 29-3 that day.
Imagine, six years between sellouts. In the NFL, that's beyond bizarre.
And one more thing: The starting strong safety for the Cards that day, making his third start for head coach Vince Tobin, was Pat Tillman -- in the midst of a 145-tackle season.
Aggravating/Enjoyable Travel Note of the Week
I did not travel over the last seven days, except for a round-trip car excursion to see Johnny Demon's first game at Fenway since his offseason departure to the New York Yankees.
Nothing very notable about the trip. Just an enjoyable 3 1/2 hours in the car each way with my bride, a Sirius satellite radio and the navigation system. I stopped for Green Mountain Coffee on the Merritt Parkway along the way, then stopped for a beer in the new Cask and Flagon next to Fenway before the game. (The place used to be a dump designed to throw a few quick beers in you before you went to the ballpark, and now it's a totally redesigned restaurant with menus and, amazingly, nice bathrooms. I was using one of said bathrooms when a tipsy fellow walked in around 5 last Monday afternoon and said, "Wow! What'd they do with these pissahs?'') There was, by the way, one large sign paraded through the stands before the game that read: "BENEDICT DAMON.''
One other travel note, not involving me, but it is a travel note of some sort.
When Reggie Bush left New Orleans after his first post-draft visit there, coach Sean Payton shook his hand, wished him well and said: "Next time you come in here, no more chartered planes, hotel suites and limos, OK? It's a Residence Inn and all football, OK?'' Bush said sure, he'd like that.
Factoid That May Interest Only Me
The Arizona Republic reported that Matt Leinart's post-draft party, held last Tuesday at the nightclub "Pure'' at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, featured Paris Hilton dancing seductively next to Leinart on a white leather bed -- the paper's phraseology, not mine -- and "an all-girl band wearing black bras and leather boots swing from the ceiling on red feather boas.''
Why do I get the feeling this guy might be more Pat O'Brien than Ken O'Brien?
Ten Things I Think I Think
1. I think Dennis Green has the right attitude with his rookie quarterback, Matt Leinart. "Hopefully he does not have to play one down,'' said Green. "That would mean Kurt Warner would be healthy all year.''
You know why that's the right attitude? Because as far advanced as Leinart is right now -- and make no mistake about it, he's the most mature of the rookie quarterbacks -- he still doesn't know what he's doing. And Warner does. But Green, I'm sure, knows he's going to be playing Leinart at some point this year, unless Warner reverts to 1999 form, which he's shown fleeting signs of the last three years.
2. I think when Bill Parcells looks at 6-foot-2, 255-pound first-round linebacker Bobby Carpenter, he sees an old Giant. That's fitting because Parcells coached Carpenter's dad with the Giants when Parcells took the New York job in 1983. There's no doubt in my mind that there was something paternalistic about the Cowboys picking Carpenter.
Parcells used to tell Rod Carpenter that he would have made a better linebacker than running back. He's smart enough to know that Bobby, who was coached by his father in high school before going to Ohio State, might not end up as the next Carl Banks, a backup strongside linebacker, but that the kid will give it that effort.
3. I think the Packers beat writers seemed to have gotten Brett Favre to open a vein and bleed a little bit the other day. What I've always appreciated about Favre is he tells you what he thinks, even if it's not the neat little sound bite his coaches and PR people sometimes wish he'd say. "I'm not going to lie,'' he said at Packers mini-camp. "I wonder if it's the right decision. I wonder what my attitude will be like if we lose six in a row ... Ultimately, I still wanted to play. I wondered what it would be like at home on Sundays next year. It was a long and difficult decision, but basically what it came down to was I still think I can be doing that, and still believe I want to do that.''
Best thing he said the other day? He's putting a prohibition on talking about the future beyond 2006, so every interview doesn't include the question, "Is this your last year?''
4. I think I don't mean to beat you over the head about Bush the last two weeks, but I have two final observations about his situation: a) His parents seem to have taken advantage of his good nature and his good name in dealing with agents and mortgages before he left USC. He probably doesn't deserve to be haunted by this, but he will be. B) When I sat in the car with Bush on his first trip to New Orleans, he seemed so overwhelmed. The look on his face was almost like Robert Redford's character in The Candidate, when Redford, playing a neophyte politician, won a stunning election victory and said, "What do I do now?" The answer for Bush comes in two words: grow up.
5. I think Marv Levy has been catching major crappola in western New York for his actions during the draft -- some justified, some not. Levy decided to stay put at No. 8 in the first round and pick Ohio State safety Donte Whitner rather than taking a lucrative offer from Denver to move down seven spots. The Broncos would have sent second- and fourth-round picks to move from No. 15 to No. 8. And Buffalo traded up into the latter part of the first round to get North Carolina State John McCargo. Finally, Levy was criticized for passing on Matt Leinart at No. 8 because of Buffalo's shaky quarterback situation.
Levy told me, "The top defensive back in the draft for us was Donte Whitner. We heard rumblings there were teams very close behind us who wanted him. Yes, we could have moved down, but it would have been a risk. Why move down when you identified the guy you want and you can sit there and get him? He's tailor-made for everything we do on defense. What if in the process of moving down you don't get the guy you want?"
Here's where I disagree. I think the only team that was a threat to take Whitner in the top half of the first round was Baltimore, and the Ravens were clear in their intentions that if Haloti Ngata of Oregon was there for their pick, No. 12, that he'd be their man. As I said last week, one personnel man told me there was a 95 percent chance Whitner would have been there at 15 had Buffalo not chosen him eighth overall.
Now, on the McCargo and Leinart issues, I think Levy's right. The Bills need to give J.P. Losman a chance to be the quarterback of this team; you cloud the issue by taking Leinart and throwing Losman to the curb.
McCargo's a very good player and clearly was the best interior defensive lineman entering the late first round. "After McCargo, there was a huge dropoff in grades to the next man,'' Levy said. "There's no way we would have gotten him had we stayed where we were in the second round."
6. I think it looks like only a matter of time before Charley Casserly departs the Houston Texans -- though I've been told he doesn't have a lock on a job in the NFL office.
7. I think Nick Saban is right to keep Ricky Williams from the Canadian Football League -- for the Dolphins' sake, not for Williams. I'd rather be able to keep close tabs on Williams than let him go to another country. Williams is still an enticing backup running back prospect for Saban in 2007.
8. I think it's time for Joe Gibbs, who has always loved veterans, to start loving a second-year guy. He's got to give Jason Campbell a fair shot to unseat Mark Brunell this summer. Campbell has too much potential to sit for another year.
9. I think I like San Francisco's acquisition of Trent Dilfer. He's at the stage of his career where he can be a valuable mentor to Alex Smith and he can also be another set of eyes to help new offensive coordinator Norv Turner. I still can't figure out what the Browns are doing at quarterback. Cleveland now has no insurance policy behind a shaky second-year quarterback Charlie Frye.
10. I think these are my non-football thoughts of the week:
a. Camerawork of the Week: Early in the Mets-Braves game on WPIX-TV Sunday, the camera panned to the Mets dugout, where emergency starter Jose Lima was talking with pitching coach Rick Peterson. Lima did not have his hat on. He has an absurd-looking blond Afro. So absurd that it was all the announcers could do to keep from laughing uproariously. The camera stayed on Lima for four or five seconds, and the next shot was a tight one of a tray of cotton candy being sold in the grandstand. Perfect. Other than the color, you couldn't tell the difference between the 'fro and the cotton candy.
b. Coffeenerdness: Starbucks should know they've got one feisty, anti-Starbucks non-customer in Jenny Conrad, the Manhattan-bred Colgate roomie of one Mary Beth King. "First, I don't think it's good coffee. Breakfast blend is bitter and just doesn't taste good," she says. "Second, it hurts the Mom-and-Pop coffee shop, which we need in this country. Where I live in New York, there are five Starbucks within a five-block radius of where I live. Third, I go by small, medium and large. None of this grande and venti crap.'' There, Conrad. I have passed your concerns on to Seattle.
c. The baseball season is five weeks old and there is no more bizarre stat than the win total of a healthy Carlos Zambrano for the Chicago Cubs: zero.
d. SOPRANOS WARNING: (Read with caution if you did not see the show Sunday night). Precious Moments of the Week: The Virgin Mother statue as an apparition at the Bing ... Paulie watching Lawrence Welk with his faux Mom ... Christopher talking family values while snorting narcotics ... Christopher preaching about his friend going to rehab while snorting narcotics ... Christopher being Christopher ... Janice in the neck brace ... Phil Leotardo. I love writing the name. Is there a better character name in TV history, other than "Herman Munster'' or "Mr. Ed?'' ... Paulie obsessing about the big casino. Three more episodes. Not really sure how life will go on without it.
e. You're doing just fine without my advice, Mr. Papelbon, but in case you're interested, here goes. You know when you get in trouble? When you try to pick and hit the black. You got in trouble against Toronto the other night, losing your first game of the year, because you kept trying to be too fine. Go after those guys! Say, "Here's my 95-mph cheese! Hit it!'' Most of 'em can't.
Their last sellout: Sept. 24, 2000, when 69,568 fans crowded into Sun Devil Stadium -- mostly to see the Green Bay Packers. The Pack whipped Arizona 29-3 that day.
Keep five alive
Peter King, SI.com
I know this isn't a typical lead for Monday Morning Quarterback, but I find it absurd that the NFL Competition Committee, which will debate the issue this week, might not allow Reggie Bush to wear number 5 for the Saints. Here are five reasons why I think they should let him.
1. It would not be the end of Western Civilization. Running backs, according to the league, are not allowed to wear single-digit numbers, and I'm sure the NFL's concern about Bush's request has something to do with setting a bad precedent for other players to change to non-traditional numbers. (Oh, you mean like Keyshawn Johnson, a wide receiver, wearing the decidedly non-wide-receiver number 19?) The Saints currently don't have a number in the 20s or 30s available for Bush; they'd have to get a current player to switch jersey numbers. I hear it will likely be Fred McAfee, the 15-year veteran back who now wears No. 25. Number changes happen all the time, but in this case, why force it? And this would not be precedent-setting. The NFL saw to that when it gave Johnson, the top pick in 1996, permission to wear 19.
2. Everyone knows Bush as No. 5. After leaving New Orleans following the draft two weekends ago, I heard that the league's Competition Committee would listen to an appeal from Bush and the Saints and then make its decision some time this week. What the committee was told by Mike Ornstein, Bush's marketing maven, is that all of Southern California knows Bush as No. 5, which he has worn since he was a high school star, and that California is a lucrative merchandising market for the NFL. More people in that area will buy a Saints jerseys with the No. 5 on it than would buy a Saints jerseys with a 25.
"He's synonymous with 5,'' said Ornstein, who sent this week's SI, which features Bush in a computer-generated Saints No. 5 uniform, to each member of the Competition Committee and to several league officials, urging them to allow Bush to wear 5. And he told them how wild New Orleans was over Bush during draft weekend. I can attest to that. Now, Saints fans will be just as wild about him if he wears another number. That's for sure. But is there any good reason to make him do so? That Saints want him to wear 5, too. They helped with his appeal to the league.
3. Paul Hornung wore 5. You might remember him. Played at Notre Dame. Played for Vince Lombardi and the Green Bay Packers. Was elected to the Hall of Fame. When he took the field wearing No. 5, the earth did not spin off its axis.
4. Merchandising, people. Last year, the sales of Randy Moss and Terrell Owens jerseys earned those players more than $1 million each. Here's how the merchandising works. Say a Reebok replica jersey is sold in the store or online for $150. The NFLPA gets 7.5 percent of the proceeds of the jersey. That's $11.25. Of that $11.25, $9 is turned over to the player. There is no doubt in my mind that the hottest jersey in the league in the preseason would be Bush's No. 5 Saints jersey ... much hotter than if Bush were given, say, 25. That leads us to something the NFL will definitely understand ...
5. Helping Katrina victims. Bush is smart. Ornstein is shrewd. How about if Ornstein calls a member or two of the Competition Committee and says, "Look, Reggie will take half of his proceeds from jersey sales this year and give them to Katrina relief. Think about it. That's maybe $750,000. It might be a million. You know how far 750K goes on the Gulf Coast? It'll rebuild seven houses in the Lower Ninth Ward -- if they ever get around to having a plan for the reconstruction there.''
The NFL has taken major strides toward helping New Orleans and the Gulf Coast recover from Katrina. What better way to take further steps than to have Louisiana's new hero stand in front of a news conference this weekend at the Saints' mini-camp and say, "I truly appreciate that the NFL did for me what it did for another USC player, Keyshawn Johnson, by allowing me to wear a non-traditional number for a running back. To show my appreciation, I'm here today to announce that I'm donating half of the proceeds of all my jersey sales to help Katrina relief.
"The hurricane and flooding happened more than eight months ago, but we've got to focus on doing more for the people of this area, in both Louisiana and Mississippi. I hope that I'm able to give more than $1 million to help rebuild the shattered lives of people in places like the Lower Ninth Ward here in New Orleans and in places like Pass Christian and Biloxi, Miss. So for every one of you who buys my jersey, you'll be donating money to the people who still desperately need it.''
Let's say people get fired up about this jersey, and buy it in record numbers. Imagine the power of Reggie Bush handing the mayor of New Orleans and the governor of Mississippi twin checks in October. That, ladies and gentlemen, is power. The power of 5.
Quote of the Week I
"I told him, 'You're going to have to make a big adjustment as far as the offense goes. I don't worry about him making that adjustment, but it is going to be different for him. And in this offense, you're not going to catch 100 balls. It's just not going to happen.'' -- Bill Parcells, on new Cowboys receiver Terrell Owens.
Quote of the Week II
"We really, I think, want the same thing. I've had players before that I've been warned about. 'Why'd you do this? Why'd you do that?' And some of them that I was warned about turned out to be the best guys.'' -- Parcells, on Owens.
Stat of the Week
The Arizona Cardinals stopped selling season tickets last week for their new 63,400-seat stadium in suburban Glendale, which means they're probably about 5,000 seats shy of selling out every game this year. (The Cardinals will keep some seats for single-game sales.)
Their last sellout: Sept. 24, 2000, when 69,568 fans crowded into Sun Devil Stadium -- mostly to see the Green Bay Packers. The Pack whipped Arizona 29-3 that day.
Imagine, six years between sellouts. In the NFL, that's beyond bizarre.
And one more thing: The starting strong safety for the Cards that day, making his third start for head coach Vince Tobin, was Pat Tillman -- in the midst of a 145-tackle season.
Aggravating/Enjoyable Travel Note of the Week
I did not travel over the last seven days, except for a round-trip car excursion to see Johnny Demon's first game at Fenway since his offseason departure to the New York Yankees.
Nothing very notable about the trip. Just an enjoyable 3 1/2 hours in the car each way with my bride, a Sirius satellite radio and the navigation system. I stopped for Green Mountain Coffee on the Merritt Parkway along the way, then stopped for a beer in the new Cask and Flagon next to Fenway before the game. (The place used to be a dump designed to throw a few quick beers in you before you went to the ballpark, and now it's a totally redesigned restaurant with menus and, amazingly, nice bathrooms. I was using one of said bathrooms when a tipsy fellow walked in around 5 last Monday afternoon and said, "Wow! What'd they do with these pissahs?'') There was, by the way, one large sign paraded through the stands before the game that read: "BENEDICT DAMON.''
One other travel note, not involving me, but it is a travel note of some sort.
When Reggie Bush left New Orleans after his first post-draft visit there, coach Sean Payton shook his hand, wished him well and said: "Next time you come in here, no more chartered planes, hotel suites and limos, OK? It's a Residence Inn and all football, OK?'' Bush said sure, he'd like that.
Factoid That May Interest Only Me
The Arizona Republic reported that Matt Leinart's post-draft party, held last Tuesday at the nightclub "Pure'' at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, featured Paris Hilton dancing seductively next to Leinart on a white leather bed -- the paper's phraseology, not mine -- and "an all-girl band wearing black bras and leather boots swing from the ceiling on red feather boas.''
Why do I get the feeling this guy might be more Pat O'Brien than Ken O'Brien?
Ten Things I Think I Think
1. I think Dennis Green has the right attitude with his rookie quarterback, Matt Leinart. "Hopefully he does not have to play one down,'' said Green. "That would mean Kurt Warner would be healthy all year.''
You know why that's the right attitude? Because as far advanced as Leinart is right now -- and make no mistake about it, he's the most mature of the rookie quarterbacks -- he still doesn't know what he's doing. And Warner does. But Green, I'm sure, knows he's going to be playing Leinart at some point this year, unless Warner reverts to 1999 form, which he's shown fleeting signs of the last three years.
2. I think when Bill Parcells looks at 6-foot-2, 255-pound first-round linebacker Bobby Carpenter, he sees an old Giant. That's fitting because Parcells coached Carpenter's dad with the Giants when Parcells took the New York job in 1983. There's no doubt in my mind that there was something paternalistic about the Cowboys picking Carpenter.
Parcells used to tell Rod Carpenter that he would have made a better linebacker than running back. He's smart enough to know that Bobby, who was coached by his father in high school before going to Ohio State, might not end up as the next Carl Banks, a backup strongside linebacker, but that the kid will give it that effort.
3. I think the Packers beat writers seemed to have gotten Brett Favre to open a vein and bleed a little bit the other day. What I've always appreciated about Favre is he tells you what he thinks, even if it's not the neat little sound bite his coaches and PR people sometimes wish he'd say. "I'm not going to lie,'' he said at Packers mini-camp. "I wonder if it's the right decision. I wonder what my attitude will be like if we lose six in a row ... Ultimately, I still wanted to play. I wondered what it would be like at home on Sundays next year. It was a long and difficult decision, but basically what it came down to was I still think I can be doing that, and still believe I want to do that.''
Best thing he said the other day? He's putting a prohibition on talking about the future beyond 2006, so every interview doesn't include the question, "Is this your last year?''
4. I think I don't mean to beat you over the head about Bush the last two weeks, but I have two final observations about his situation: a) His parents seem to have taken advantage of his good nature and his good name in dealing with agents and mortgages before he left USC. He probably doesn't deserve to be haunted by this, but he will be. B) When I sat in the car with Bush on his first trip to New Orleans, he seemed so overwhelmed. The look on his face was almost like Robert Redford's character in The Candidate, when Redford, playing a neophyte politician, won a stunning election victory and said, "What do I do now?" The answer for Bush comes in two words: grow up.
5. I think Marv Levy has been catching major crappola in western New York for his actions during the draft -- some justified, some not. Levy decided to stay put at No. 8 in the first round and pick Ohio State safety Donte Whitner rather than taking a lucrative offer from Denver to move down seven spots. The Broncos would have sent second- and fourth-round picks to move from No. 15 to No. 8. And Buffalo traded up into the latter part of the first round to get North Carolina State John McCargo. Finally, Levy was criticized for passing on Matt Leinart at No. 8 because of Buffalo's shaky quarterback situation.
Levy told me, "The top defensive back in the draft for us was Donte Whitner. We heard rumblings there were teams very close behind us who wanted him. Yes, we could have moved down, but it would have been a risk. Why move down when you identified the guy you want and you can sit there and get him? He's tailor-made for everything we do on defense. What if in the process of moving down you don't get the guy you want?"
Here's where I disagree. I think the only team that was a threat to take Whitner in the top half of the first round was Baltimore, and the Ravens were clear in their intentions that if Haloti Ngata of Oregon was there for their pick, No. 12, that he'd be their man. As I said last week, one personnel man told me there was a 95 percent chance Whitner would have been there at 15 had Buffalo not chosen him eighth overall.
Now, on the McCargo and Leinart issues, I think Levy's right. The Bills need to give J.P. Losman a chance to be the quarterback of this team; you cloud the issue by taking Leinart and throwing Losman to the curb.
McCargo's a very good player and clearly was the best interior defensive lineman entering the late first round. "After McCargo, there was a huge dropoff in grades to the next man,'' Levy said. "There's no way we would have gotten him had we stayed where we were in the second round."
6. I think it looks like only a matter of time before Charley Casserly departs the Houston Texans -- though I've been told he doesn't have a lock on a job in the NFL office.
7. I think Nick Saban is right to keep Ricky Williams from the Canadian Football League -- for the Dolphins' sake, not for Williams. I'd rather be able to keep close tabs on Williams than let him go to another country. Williams is still an enticing backup running back prospect for Saban in 2007.
8. I think it's time for Joe Gibbs, who has always loved veterans, to start loving a second-year guy. He's got to give Jason Campbell a fair shot to unseat Mark Brunell this summer. Campbell has too much potential to sit for another year.
9. I think I like San Francisco's acquisition of Trent Dilfer. He's at the stage of his career where he can be a valuable mentor to Alex Smith and he can also be another set of eyes to help new offensive coordinator Norv Turner. I still can't figure out what the Browns are doing at quarterback. Cleveland now has no insurance policy behind a shaky second-year quarterback Charlie Frye.
10. I think these are my non-football thoughts of the week:
a. Camerawork of the Week: Early in the Mets-Braves game on WPIX-TV Sunday, the camera panned to the Mets dugout, where emergency starter Jose Lima was talking with pitching coach Rick Peterson. Lima did not have his hat on. He has an absurd-looking blond Afro. So absurd that it was all the announcers could do to keep from laughing uproariously. The camera stayed on Lima for four or five seconds, and the next shot was a tight one of a tray of cotton candy being sold in the grandstand. Perfect. Other than the color, you couldn't tell the difference between the 'fro and the cotton candy.
b. Coffeenerdness: Starbucks should know they've got one feisty, anti-Starbucks non-customer in Jenny Conrad, the Manhattan-bred Colgate roomie of one Mary Beth King. "First, I don't think it's good coffee. Breakfast blend is bitter and just doesn't taste good," she says. "Second, it hurts the Mom-and-Pop coffee shop, which we need in this country. Where I live in New York, there are five Starbucks within a five-block radius of where I live. Third, I go by small, medium and large. None of this grande and venti crap.'' There, Conrad. I have passed your concerns on to Seattle.
c. The baseball season is five weeks old and there is no more bizarre stat than the win total of a healthy Carlos Zambrano for the Chicago Cubs: zero.
d. SOPRANOS WARNING: (Read with caution if you did not see the show Sunday night). Precious Moments of the Week: The Virgin Mother statue as an apparition at the Bing ... Paulie watching Lawrence Welk with his faux Mom ... Christopher talking family values while snorting narcotics ... Christopher preaching about his friend going to rehab while snorting narcotics ... Christopher being Christopher ... Janice in the neck brace ... Phil Leotardo. I love writing the name. Is there a better character name in TV history, other than "Herman Munster'' or "Mr. Ed?'' ... Paulie obsessing about the big casino. Three more episodes. Not really sure how life will go on without it.
e. You're doing just fine without my advice, Mr. Papelbon, but in case you're interested, here goes. You know when you get in trouble? When you try to pick and hit the black. You got in trouble against Toronto the other night, losing your first game of the year, because you kept trying to be too fine. Go after those guys! Say, "Here's my 95-mph cheese! Hit it!'' Most of 'em can't.