More premature exaggeration
Cris Collinsworth, on the halftime show of NBC’s Sunday night game, said that this year’s New England Patriots are "the best team I’ve ever seen.’’ That’s right. Collinsworth, who played in two Super Bowls seven years apart against 49ers teams led by Bill Walsh and Joe Montana, and who played during the era of the 1985 Bears, threw down the history card six games into this regular season.
Here we go again.
It started long ago, but it’s way out of hand now. Did you know that there is already talk that Devin Hester, after 22 career regular-season games, is the best return man in NFL history? That Reggie Bush, 18 games into his career, was the biggest draft bust in NFL history? That Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz are the best 1-2 hitting duo in baseball history? (Yes, Ramirez himself is the one who said it, but lots of writers lapped it up.) That Josh Beckett is the best big-game pitcher in baseball history?
We ridicule Bill Walton for his habit of going way over the top on his observations (personal favorite from a few years ago: "Robert Horry defends the inbounds pass better than any big man in NBA history’’). But face it. We are all Bill Walton.
We obviously have learned nothing from the Rose Bowl of two years ago (USC, the greatest college football team of all time – hold it … never mind). And we’re obviously learning nothing from the Colorado Rockies, who are actually accomplishing something for the ages. This is legitimate, un-subjective, exaggeration-proof history we’re viewing; this is something that can’t be blown out of proportion.
This is also proof that it’s wisest to let an actual season – or, in some cases a couple of seasons, or a decent chunk of a career – play out before we anoint a team or player or coach as deity or loser. Because anything can happen. In the case of the Patriots, it’s the NFL. The season is just too long. At this point it would be a shock if the Patriots didn’t win the Super Bowl and a bigger shock if they didn’t even get there. But it’s happened like that already. Just two years ago, right, Indianapolis?
It’s not necessary. It’s not fun, either. Is the point of all these venues and outlets for sports ideas and opinions strictly to get the most outrageous opinion that comes to mind out into the open and get people arguing about it? Is it to become the name everyone is talking about ("Wow, did you hear what Collinsworth said?’’)? Once upon a time, Collinsworth was above all that.
Maybe the Patriots will prove themselves to be the best NFL team ever assembled. But if you’re saying that in October, then you’re just being irresponsible, and personally I’m tired of being beaten over the head 24 hours a day by irresponsibility. If you’re that giddy over your team with two-thirds of the season left to play, please, for all our sakes, try to hold it in a little bit longer.
Comments
I'm a life long Pats fan, but I have to agree with you. Teams evolve during the year (like the Ravens have this year) and injuries can have a huge impact. The Pats have a lot of older guys at linebacker and Harrison is 34. I'm thrilled with the way they're playing, and think they'll be in the AFC championship, where the Super Bowl will be decided, again. Pats vs. Ravens is shaping up to be a great game.
Posted by: Chuck Jones | October 16, 2007 2:08 PM
Spot on, David. In fact, may I be so bold as to say this is perhaps the greatest post in the history of sports blogs. (Although, in the Patriots' case, I don't know if it's too early to start proclaiming them the best ever. Sure, it's worth arguing about -- that's what sports are for -- but we're into mid-October, the season is almost half-over, and nobody has come within TWENTY POINTS of them yet.) The real question is what happens to them if/when they get to 13-0 or 14-0. Do they pull a Tony Dungy and back off, forget about 16-0 and focus on the playoffs, like the Colts did a few years ago, or do they step on the gas and go for it? The way they're scoring meaningless in-your-face touchdowns this year late in games leads me to think they'll keep their foot on the gas all the way through.
Posted by: Sammy Maudlin | October 17, 2007 9:28 AM
I hate to disagree with you because this is a pet peeve of mine -- people's loose use of superlatives -- but, in this case, I think I agree with Collinsworth.
We're talking about a team (The Patriots) that is playing on a whole other level from the entire rest of the league. They've blown out everyone they've played. Last week, 14 out of 19 people in my office pool picked the Patriots to win over Dallas -- another undefeated team -- on the road. And look what happened. The Patriots won by 21 points. People can tell. We're talking about a 12-4 team from a year ago that added THREE wide receivers, ALL of whom are better than their BEST wide receiver from last year. They also added what may be the best defensive player in the NFL in Adalius Thomas. All of this while keeping pretty much all of their key players from last year. It's my belief that the only thing that will stop this team from going 19-0 this year will be if they start to get overconfident and underprepare and someone catches them off guard.
Posted by: Dan | October 17, 2007 6:01 PM