Despite my CFL duties, I’ve been following the NFL perhaps even more closely than usual this year thanks to writing a weekly picks column over at The Good Point. It’s been a pretty solid season so far, with lots of exciting games, great storylines and terrific playoff races, and there isn’t any shortage of things to write about on any front.
However, there’s one lingering blot on the season that’s overshadowing many of the positive developments, and that’s the atrociousness of the NFC West. As Jon Bois wrote over at SB Nation a while back, the division has been terrible for almost its entire existence in its current 2002-on form, with its teams only recording a combined positive point differential once in that span (in 2003, and that wasn’t by much). This year might be a new low for the division, though, as all four of its teams are around the same degree of awful.
With the San Francisco 49ers getting blown out 34-7 by the San Diego Chargers on Thursday Night Football tonight, they’re now at 5-9 on the season. They also have a point differential of negative 37 and have scored only 243 points, tied for fourth-worst in the league. Yet, they still have a chance to win the division, thanks largely to their NFC West-best 3-1 divisional record. If they win out and get some favourable results from other teams, they could sneak into the playoffs at 7-9 and even host a first-round playoff game. That would make them the worst NFL team (by regular-season record) to make the playoffs since the 16-game season was brought in; nine teams have made the post-season with an 8-8 record.
So, I went 1-3 last weekend, which certainly isn't promising. However, it was a rather bizarre weekend of games, and I did beat ESPN's Bill Simmons, who makes about a kajillion dollars more for his writing than I do, so I'm okay with that. The thing is, the NFL is a league of parity; as we often recite, anything can happen on any given Sunday. This becomes even more evident in the playoffs because only decent teams make it this far; the gap between a 14-2 team like the Colts and a 9-7 team like the Ravens is far closer than the gap between the Ravens and the 1-15 St. Louis Rams, so it's much harder to figure out who's going to win.With that in mind, I do have a few thoughts about this weekend's slate of games. As always, these predictions are nowhere near guaranteed and are intended for recreational purposes only.
Cardinals at Saints: (4:30 p.m. Eastern Saturday, FOX)
This should be one of the most entertaining games of the weekend, featuring two high-powered offences. The Saints have dominated for most of the year, but they slumped a bit down the stretch; it will be interesting to see if they can get back into form. Meanwhile, the Cardinals were creamed 33-7 by Green Bay in the last week of the regular season (while playing backups), but '99 Warner showed up last week and destroyed the Packers in the wild-card playoffs, finishing with 379 yards and more touchdown passes (five) than incompletions (four) in a 51-45 overtime win. The Cardinals' defence was absent for much of the game, but they actually got a pretty decent rushing performance out of Beanie Wells (14 carries for 91 yards) and they
got a key defensive play when it mattered in overtime. I agree with Samer that this team seems a lot like last year's surprise Super Bowl-contending edition; in my mind, it's even better because they've added a solid run game and a playmaking defence. I'm expecting Warner to lead them to victory again this week, despite the quality of the opposition. When '99 Warner shows up, you'd better run to the hills.
Pick: Arizona
Ravens at Colts: (8:15 p.m. Eastern Saturday, CBS)
This should be a classic "Battle of Baltimore", featuring the team that packed up and left in the middle of the night against their replacements. Karma would favour the Ravens in this one, but the Colts did finish the year 14-2 (with their only losses coming in games they weren't trying in), while the Ravens barely made the playoffs on the final day. Moreover, quarterback Joe Flacco only completed four passes for 34 yards and was picked off once in the Ravens' first-round victory over the Patriots, which doesn't exactly inspire confidence, especially considering that he's going up against Peyton Manning. However, there are some reasons to favour the Ravens. For one, they're a punishing, physical team on both offence and defence, which doesn't bode well for the Colts, who favour smaller, quicker players. The Colts also struggle running the ball (Joseph Addai doesn't inspire a lot of confidence), and Baltimore's defence might just be good enough to frustrate Manning. For me, the biggest thing going into this game is the lacklustre way the Colts finished the season; they laid down rather than going for 16-0, and I think that will come back to haunt them. That's not thanks to karma, but thanks to timing; football's a game of precise timing, where a millisecond can make the difference between a touchdown pass and an interception. That timing can only really be tested in games, as practices move at a slower speed and with less pressure. I'm guessing the Colts' offence will be a bit out of sync after taking several weeks off, and that could be all the opportunity Baltimore needs. The Colts surrendered too early, and that may hurt them tonight.
Pick: Baltimore
Cowboys at Vikings: (Sunday, 1:00 p.m. Eastern, FOX)
It's tough to figure out who to root for in this game between the team everyone hates (the Cowboys) and the quarterback everyone hates (Brett Favre). It should be an interesting contest, though; both teams have plenty of talent with balanced run/pass offences and strong defences. However, I'm taking the Cowboys based on their recent play. The Vikings struggled down the stretch while Dallas roared into the playoffs and thumped an excellent Eagles team twice in a row. Brett Favre's due to explode any time soon, and Tony Romo and company look surprisingly competent without locker-room distraction Terrell Owens. Plus, Wade Phillips is a slightly more competent coach than Brad Childress. Who doesn't want to be a Cowboy, baby?
Pick: Dallas
Jets at Chargers:
The Jets turned in an impressive performance last weekend, running over the Bengals 24-14 in the wild-card round. However, San Diego is a tougher opponent for them. The Bengals boasted one top receiver in Chad Ochocinco, an easy mark for Darrelle Revis, their star shutdown corner. The Chargers have four great receivers in Vincent Jackson, Antonio Gates, Malcolm Floyd and Legedu Naanee: Revis can only cover one of them at a time, and the rest of the Jets' secondary is merely okay. Moreover, those guys are all 6'4 or taller; Revis is 5'11. That should lead to some jump-ball opportunities, which Philip Rivers excels at throwing and the Chargers' receivers excel at bringing in. They also have a great rushing and receiving threat in RB Darren Sproles. When you factor in the Chargers' momentum over the second half of the season and that the Jets limped into the playoffs mostly thanks to their opponents laying down, this seems like a good weekend to ride the lightning.
Today was Remembrance Day (Veterans' Day in the U.S.), so I've been doing a lot of reflecting on soldiers, wars and history. Ryan Gallivan has a good round-up of some excellent reading for the day, including this tremendous piece from Matt Ufford of Kissing Suzy Kolber fame on his experiences in Iraq, so I encourage you to check that out.
However, there's one other story that always comes to my mind around now, and it's one that truly deserves to be remembered. If you haven't yet, I urge you to read Gary Smith's excellentstories on former Arizona Cardinals safety Pat Tillman. If you have read them, go back and look at them again; they're well worth it.
Tillman gave up a lucrative career in the NFL to go serve his country in the wake of the September 11 attacks and tragically lost his life doing so. What impressed me even more than his decision, though, was the outstanding person he was from all accounts. I love these pieces because Smith doesn't take the easy way out and build Tillman up as some gung-ho patriot who never questioned what he was doing. He illustrates Tillman's doubts and questions about the morality of war, his moments of weakness and his periods of strength, and he goes into the questions about what happened to cause Tillman's death and the Army's role in covering it up. In doing so, he moves beyond the typical lionizing black-and-white portrait of nationalism and heroism, painting Tillman with shades of grey that make him a more compelling character and a greater hero.
Generally, I'm not a big believer in the idea that athletes are or should be heroes or role models, but there are always exceptions. Tillman is one, and an athlete I'm proud to admire. Every day, but on today of all days, we should follow the lead of Smith's second headline and remember his name.
And here's my piece on why Pittsburgh will win today:
If life was a Hollywood story, there's no question that the Arizona Cardinals would take today's game. Their unlikely playoff run feels like it should be on the silver screen, and the revitalization of Kurt Warner could be turned into any number of movies. This is reality, though, and the Cardinals are long past due for turning into pumpkins.
That's not to underestimate Arizona. They've proven to be a very capable team in these playoffs, and much more dangerous than their regular-season performance would indicate. They have the great quarterback play from Warner and the tremendous ability of Larry Fitzgerald at wide receiver, and they'll certainly be in this game. They won't win it, though, and that's because they're a one-dimensional team.
The Steelers can hurt you in a variety of different ways. Their defence is terrific against the run and the pass, and their zone blitz means that you never know which players are coming at you. Arizona's offensive line is okay, but not great, and they'll have a lot of difficulty coping with the wide variety of defensive looks Dick LeBeau and the Steelers will throw at them. The Steelers don't need to shut down Fitzgerald completely; if they can contain him and put pressure on Warner, that should be enough. By contrast, Arizona's offence is largely just Warner-to-Fitzgerald. The Cardinals have only had minimal success running the ball this year, as Aaron Schatz of the excellent Football Outsiderspointed out earlier, and they finished last in rushing during the regular season. They won't be able to pound it on the ground against the tremendous Steelers run defence, and once they go pass-wacky, look out for some big sacks and interceptions from the likes of James Harrison and Troy Polamalu.
On the other side of the ball, Pittsburgh has a good-but-not-great offence, but they only have to deal with a marginally effective Cardinals' defence. They can mix true runs from Willie Parker with screens to Mewelde Moore and passes to the likes of Hines Ward, Santonio Holmes and Nate Washington. Tight end Heath Miller is one of the league's best, and Ben Roethlisberger is one of the top scrambling quarterbacks in the league and excels at picking up big yards on the run. Moreover, he can take a hit and he knows when to take one; that's why he doesn't throw a ton of interceptions. The Steelers buy into the team mentality and are probably the best in the league at blocking for each other downfield. Pittsburgh's offence isn't spectacular, but it should be more than good enough against Arizona.
The other point to consider is how the teams got here. The Cardinals beat the Atlanta Falcons in the first round, a team just slightly less surprising than themselves in the remarkable turnaround category. They then knocked off a good Carolina team in the second round, but that was mostly due to a five-interception performance on the part of Jake "Daylight Come and I Wanna" Delhomme (as christened by Chris Berman); it was more poor play from the Panthers than anything special on Arizona's part. In the NFC Championship Game, they took down a flawed Philadelphia Eagles team marred by poor coaching decisions and inconsistent play. That's not bad, but it doesn't compare to the Steelers knocking off one of the league's best offences (San Diego) and then beating their only competition for best defence (Baltimore). Pittsburgh's strength of schedule is another good reason to take them.
Finally, there's the crucial battle of the nicknames. Thanks to Deadspin's Will Leitch, Arizona shall forever be known as "The Buzzsaw That Is The Arizona Cardinals". That's not bad, and they've certainly cut through the playoffs to this point. However, buzzsaws tend to fail when they come up against steel. Arizona's had a great run, but Pittsburgh will be too much for them to handle.
Here's Mike's piece on why he thinks Arizona will win today's game:
According to today’s New York Times, Kurt Warner wears number 13 to show that his spirituality overrides any need to be superstitious. If that isn’t enough to convince anyone of the Cardinals’ impending victory tonight, then it’s tough to know what else to say.
In last year’s Super Bowl, Andrew wrote in the Journal that if the New York Giants played their best possible game and the Patriots faltered as they hadn’t before, the Giants had a chance to win. I countered that the game wasn’t even worth watching, since the 18-0 Patriots would run roughshod all over them. We all know what happened next, and I’ve been eating my words ever since. Even though analysis of every statistic and match-up flew in the face of a New York victory, the Giants managed to pull it out.
This year’s Cardinals increasingly remind me of last year’s Giants. They’ve shown that with a quarterback who’s on his game (Manning or Warner), a receiver who consistently makes difficult catches in double coverage (Plaxico “sure, sweatpants work as a holster!” Burress and Larry Fitzgerald) and a defense that comes together at the right time, mediocre regular season records can be overcome in the playoffs. As such, I’m not making the same mistake twice. While it will surely be a ferocious battle, and not the cleanest game, the Cardinals can pull it out.
Arizona’s defense has forced 12 turnovers this post-season, excellent numbers compared to their regular season. Ben Roethlisberger, meanwhile, tossed 15 interceptions this season. Guys like Darnell Dockett (who took 10 hours out of his Tuesday to get some new ink done…crazy) can wreak havoc and keep Roethlisberger on the run and hesitant to make quick decisions.
The status of Hines Ward is key to the Steelers’ offensive success. If he’s at his best, the Cardinals may not be able to stop him. Having just been declared fit to play after a knee injury in the AFC Championship game, though, his health is questionable.
The matchup worth watching, though, is the Cardinals’ lights-out offense against the Steelers’ menacing defense. Kurt Warner is at his best throwing quick passes out of the pocket. The Cards’ running game doesn’t stack up against the Steelers’ defense, but it doesn’t have to with Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin running rampant in the secondary. It’s worth noting that the Steelers lost to a much-inferior Cardinals team playing a similar style last season.
The game will come down to Warner’s ability to get the ball to Fitzgerald—now statistically the greatest single-playoff receiver in NFL history. With his staggering numbers, it’s hard to bet against him, even against the Steelers’ stingy defense.
Steeler fans will point to experience as a factor in the game. Aside from countering with the Giants as a blueprint to the contrary, the Cards’ underdog status must be taken into account. The Steelers have all the pressure in the world on them as the team favoured to win by a touchdown. The Cards, meanwhile, probably feel fortunate just to be anywhere near Tampa at this point. For them, from here on in, it’s just gravy.
Above all, I refuse to make the same mistake as last year, where blind homerism and overconfidence led me to ignore the importance of team play and coming together at the right time. As such, I’m looking forward to later tonight when Kurt Warner, with God on his side, gets to hoist the Lombardi Trophy once again.
In just a few hours, the Pittsburgh Steelers will take to the field in Tampa Bay to try and win a record sixth Super Bowl title against the Arizona Cardinals. I’ve long been a Steelers fan, and these past couple of weeks, I’ve been thinking a lot about why I support the team. There are plenty of great reasons including the history of success, the focus on coaching continuity and smashmouth defence and the tremendous players who have worn the black and gold over the years.
However, sometimes you’re defined as much by what you’re not as what you are. The brilliant Joe Posnanski wrote one of the quintessential pieces on the Steelers for the Kansas City Star after their win over the Ravens. Here’s the first paragraph, which really cuts to the core of this franchise.
Football is violence. It’s easy to forget that sometimes, easy to start believing that football is about other more pleasant things, that it is about coaching and strategy and star quarterbacks and fabulous catches and touchdown dances and defensive schemes and former players and coaches yukking it up back in the studio. Then you come to Pittsburgh. And it’s all made clear.
Posnanski wrote a very interesting follow-up to that piece on his blog later on, talking about the tremendous reaction he received from Steelers fans. He found this curious considering the limited amount of time he spent on it, but rationalized that he understands the Steelers because he grew up hating them as a Cleveland Browns fan, and he learned a lot about the Steelers because they represented much of what the Browns were not. This is a tremendous insight, and one that’s rarely talked about. Sometimes, you need that outsider perspective to be able to properly analyze a team’s strengths and weaknesses. Moreover, like Posnanski found, often you can define a team by what they’re not.
This brings me to the best way I’ve found to define the Steelers and why I love them; the fact that they stand in opposition to a team I hate, the Dallas Cowboys. It’s extremely fitting that the Steelers will pass the Cowboys (and also the San Francisco 49ers) in Super Bowl titles if they win today, as the Steelers and Cowboys have long been polar opposites. They’re joined at the hip, consistently finishing 1-2 in rankings of the greatest NFL franchises, but the franchises themselves couldn’t be more different. Even the team names show the separation between the two; Steelers evokes a feeling of a community of blue-collar workers, while Cowboys is more associated with a group of rugged individualists out for their own gain (or even the Rich Texan from The Simpsons, who seems like a spot-on parody of Jerry Jones.
(Separated at birth?)
That distinction runs throughout both franchises. Look at the owners, for example. On the one side, you have the Rooney family, an exceedingly humble group of fans who grew up with the team and understand what it means to the Pittsburgh community and the larger world. On the other hand, you have the aforementioned Jones, a billionaire who rolled into town on his high horse and started making it rain in a much more grandiose fashion than Pacman Jones ever did. The Rooneys have always been good to their personnel and their fans, whereas Jones has thrown everyone else under the bus repeatedly whenever it serves his whims. Look at the 1992-1993 season, where he fired Jimmy Johnson after he won the Super Bowl, or how he underhandedly dumped Bob Ackles from the player personnel division after Ackles put the pieces in place for the glory years of the Cowboys. (If you want more on these moves, check out the excellent The Waterboy by Ackles or Boys Will Be Boys by Jeff Pearlman).
This continues down to the coaches. Dallas is frequently associated with the hard-partying types like Johnson and Barry Switzer, while Pittsburgh is famous for the humility and work ethic shown by Chuck Noll and Bill Cowher. Moreover, Pittsburgh’s shown tremendous patience with their coaches and it’s paid off: they’ve had only three coaches since 1969 and have won five Super Bowls in that era. Meanwhile, the Cowboys have had seven coaches in that time frame, many for only a couple of years.
The player level is probably where the contrast is most pronounced. The Cowboys are famous for their individual abilities, tremendous talent and off-field antics; just look at the likes of Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson, “Neon” Deion Saunders, Michael Irwin, Terrell Owens and Adam “Pacman” Jones. Meanwhile, the Steelers are famous for their collective efforts and hard work. Yes, there have been some great Steelers stars, but the most remembered part of the franchise is probably the “Steel Curtain” defence, which exemplified perfect teamwork over individual stat-padding. That focus continues today with defensive co-ordinator Dick LeBeau’s zone blitz system, where different players attack the quarterback on every down. It doesn’t produce the most impressive stats for any individual athlete, but the collective accomplishment is tremendous. The same is true on offense. Where the Cowboys have ego-driven wide receivers like Terrell Owens who complain about the quarterback not throwing them the ball enough, the Steelers’ wideouts do perhaps the best job of downfield blocking in the league. The focus is again on sacrificing your body for the good of the team regardless of the personal recognition gained in the process, and to me, that’s a great thing to see.
Today’s game should be a great one, and I’m looking forward to see how the Steelers perform against the Cardinals. Even more important, though, will be the triumph over the Cowboys in franchise titles if Pittsburgh wins. That would be a victory for ownership and fans committed to long-term success rather than flashes in the pan, for those who love watching hard-hitting defence and players willing to sacrifice for their teammates, and for collective hard work instead of egotistical individualism. That’s why I’ll be cheering for Pittsburgh today.
Note: Mike Woods and myself will have our traditional Point-Counterpoint about who will win up here shortly.
It came as quite a shock last week to hear the news [Neate Sager, Out of Left Field] of Bob Ackles' death at 69 [Ian Austin and Marc Weber, The Vancouver Province]. Ackles was such an integral part of the B.C. Lions, the CFL and Canadian football as a whole that it seems weird to consider a future landscape of the game he loved so much without him in his prominent role. It's been a bad year for CFL icons: remember, we lost J.I. Albrecht [Stephen Brunt, The Globe and Mail] back [Neate Sager, Out of Left Field] in March [my piece], so Ackles' death takes away yet another of the characters who made this league great.
Today, as an appropriate intro to the Lions-Blue Bombers game, TSN spent a half-hour of their pre-game show relating the tributes [a collection of them from TSN.ca] to Ackles, a man who thoroughly deserved all of them. The collection of tributes they were able to put together on short notice was very impressive. They had the in-studio panel share their personal Ackles stories and had Brian Williams conduct in-depth interviews with a wide range of Ackles' former teammates and colleagues, as well as famed ESPN sportscaster Chris Berman. The whole half-hour was effective and well-done, demonstrating the tremendous impact Ackles had on many different people, but the Berman piece was particularly interesting. It focused on Ackles' career in the U.S. and the respect he earned there, especially during the time he helped to turn the Dallas Cowboys from a 1-15 team into a franchise that would dominate much of the 1990s. He was the director of pro personnel from 1986-89 and the director of player personnel from 89-1992, and thus was heavily involved in the franchise's transactions during that period, including the Herschel Walker trade (which Page 2 ranked as the eighth-most lopsided trade of all time), the trades for Jay Novacek and Charles Haley, and the drafting of Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Russell Maryland.
This was a neat perspective to hear from an American sportscaster: too often, we're told that the CFL is a minor league and anyone who earns success there would never have been able to do the same south of the border, but Ackles certainly showed that perception was wrong. He played key roles with the Cowboys, Miami Dolphins, Philadelphia Eagles and Arizona Cardinals and was also instrumental in the launch of the XFL: in fact, he was the only person to work as a senior executive in all three leagues. It wasn't just Berman, either: there's been a lot of coverage of Ackles' death south of the border, with prominent examples here [Chuck Carlton, The Dallas Morning News], here [Mickey Spagnola, DallasCowboys.com columnist], here [Jim Morris, The Canadian Press via The Toronto Star (features quotes from former Cowboys and Dolphins head coach Jimmy Johnson and Dolphins president Bryan Wiedmeier)], here [Lombardi on Football, SI.com writer Michael Lombardi's personal blog] and here [Phin Phanatic, a Miami Dolphins blog].
Ackles certainly made his mark on football in B.C. over his career as well. He started at the bottom with the Lions, serving as water boy in their initial year in 1953 and working his way up to director of football management 13 years later, assistant general manager in 1971 and the full general manager's slot in 1975. In that role, he soon turned around a dismal team that hadn't recorded an above .500 season since their 1964 Grey Cup win, drafted and acquired key players like Lui Passaglia, Joe "The Throwin' Samoan" Paopao, Roy Dewalt and "Swervin' Mervin" Fernandez, gave Don Matthews his first gig as a head coach in 1983 and led the Lions to the 1985 Grey Cup. With Ackles' later success in the president's role, his capabilities as a general manager were sometimes overlooked, but the players and coaches he acquired and the success he brought speak for themselves: the man knew his football, whether three-down or four-down.
What was even more impressive about Ackles' career with the Lions was his work selling the game to the community. He was prominently involved in supporting amateur and university football in the province, and he believed in winning an audience "one fan at a time." I've had the privilege of speaking with several people who had the chance to meet Ackles personally, and the common denominator in all of their stories is how he genuinely cared about all of them and took the time to sit down and chat about football. He was at home in the corporate world, schmoozing with CEOs and wealthy types, but his real gift was that he never forgot his humble origins in the business as the team waterboy, and he took the time to reach out to average fans and journalists as well as the movers and shakers. He got results, as well: he was instrumental in the construction of B.C. Place in 1983 (and in a great example of value for money, it's still paying off for Vancouver sports: not many stadiums of that vintage can say that!) and improved the average attendance to a ridiculous 42,000 per game by the time he left town in 1985. Without him, the team went through two bankruptcies and dropped to an average gate of less than 20,000, so he came back and did it again in 2002: hiring Wally Buono as coach and G.M., leading the Lions back to the Grey Cup, and more importantly, making them relevant in Vancouver again. All those who bleed orange and black have Bob Ackles to thank for the franchise's past success and current prosperity, and so do fans of the CFL: he was a ceaseless promoter of the league, and when the threat of the NFL caused many to question the relevance of Canadian football in our modern age, he was one of the loudest voices to speak out[an op-ed he wrote for the National Post] for three-down football.
The impact of Ackles' life and work is also shown through the staggering tributes to him, many of which appeared from people and media outlets that don't always give the CFL a lot of play. Some of the best tributes are here [Matthew Sekeres, The Globe and Mail], here [Lowell Ulrich, The Vancouver Province], here [Perry Lefko, Sportsnet.ca], here [Frank Bucholtz, The Langley Times], here [Jeff Paterson, The Georgia Straight] and here [a statement from B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell in The Vancouver Sun]. To wrap up, here's some excerpts from a piece by Vancouver Province columnist Ed Willes, who said everything I've been trying to, but much better:
"It is impossible to measure Bob Ackles' impact on the B.C. Lions. Well, maybe not impossible. Maybe there are calipers that fit around Jupiter. Maybe there's a tape measure that stretches from here to the moon. But in terms the average person can understand? No, not really. I mean, how do you put The Water Boy's career in perspective? He was in football longer than Churchill was in politics, starting as a teenager at the lowest rung of a made-up team. By his late 20s he was in that team's front office, and by his late 30s he was running the show. He would ultimately build the Lions into a champion and a monster at the gate before he decamped for the NFL. Then, almost 20 years later, he came back and did it again, just to prove the first time wasn't a fluke. And now he's gone. Just like that. In his half-century in the game Ackles came to learn that everyone, whether it was Don Matthews with the Lions, Jimmy Johnson with the Cowboys or any one of the thousands of coaches and players he saw come and go, could be replaced. What he failed to grasp, however, is that he was the exception to that rule. Funny, isn't it? He was such a little guy, but he leaves behind a void that will never be filled."
Indeed. Rest in peace, Bob. You'll always have a place in the hearts of all Lions' fans, and many more hearts of those who care about football.
Related: A great excerpt from Ackles' fantastic 2007 memoirs, The Water Boy: From The Sidelines To The Owner's Box: Inside The CFL, The XFL, And The NFL about how he brought Wally Buono to town. Highly recommended reading. [The Vancouver Sun].
n 1: obsolete terms for legal insanity [syn: lunacy, madness, insaneness] 2: an acute viral disease of the nervous system of warm-blooded animals (usually transmitted by the bite of a rabid animal); rabies is fatal if the virus reaches the brain [syn:rabies, hydrophobia, lyssa, madness] 3: a feeling of intense anger; "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned"; "his face turned red with rage" [syn: fury,rage, madness] 4: the quality of being rash and foolish; "trying to drive through a blizzard is the height of folly"; "adjusting to an insane society is total foolishness" [syn: folly, foolishness, craziness, madness] 5: unrestrained excitement or enthusiasm; "poetry is a sort of divine madness" [syn: madness, rabidity, rabidness]
Seems to me that following sports as obsessively as I do can cause all of these definitions, sometimes simultaneously.
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