Friday, August 08, 2008

Anyone Believe the Village Idiot?

One of the primary reasons the Dallas Cowboys moved their training camp to Thousand Oaks, CA was to avoid an annual media feeding frenzy. In a mouth foaming football town, the Cowboys realize unscrupulous and desperate sportswriters would prey on the emotions of rabid fans. The Cowboys go to these extremes to prevent the Dallas press corps from disrupting team chemistry with reckless innuendo. Looking back on the local media coverage of quarterback, Brett Favre, vs Jeff Garcia, the Bucs' general manager also coach were called liars and truce breakers; in a half hearted defense of Allen and Gruden, players such as Manny Ramirez, Brett Favre, also Kobe Bryant are athletes transcending their generation; management, therefore, must inquire about their availability when they're open to negotiations. The Bucs, for example, would have been lambasted by these same reporters for not pursuing a player of Favre's caliber. In another sport, no one cared about Eric Henske's feelings when the Rays asked about Manny Ramirez. Why then is everyone concerned about Bucs' quarterback, Jeff Garcia? If you argue as writer, Rick Stroud, did that he saved Gruden and Allen jobs then Garcia was only doing what he's supposed to do: win. To imply the Bucs treat their players differently then other teams? Please explain why the Jets unceremoniously unloaded quarterback, Chad Pennington, who led the club to three playoffs victories. Garcia was slighted, but to infer, he will not play hard is absurd. Even with Garcia, nevertheless, the Bucs struggled offensively finishing in the bottom third in scoring with serious short comings in the red zone. It is silly to read more into this than Tampa simply trying to improve itself with a superior player. On the flip side, the Bucs chasing after Favre only confirms their unwillingness to be patient while building through the draft. Instead, they only look for short term solutions which partially explains why the team has short term success. In summation until Tampa Bay becomes something besides a football town, the team will always be dealing with nervous reporters looking for a scoop; and when they don't find one, they'll make up a story a la the Tampa Tribune. The Cowboys believe in shielding their players, wives, and children from this callous form of predation. Perhaps, the Buccaneers are assuming no one would be silly enough to believe the village idiot.

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