Four Down Territory: Tivo a blessing, a curse for watching Cardinals

Tivo: It’s a blessing and a curse. A blessing because I
was able to go to my son’s baseball tournament on Sunday
and still watch the Cardinals game. A curse because…I
was subsequently forced to watch the Cardinals game. In
the old days of the VCR I could’ve blamed a bad tape or
the blinking “12:00 am” on the display.

For those of you who think being a sports talk show host
ain’t work, try watching that dog breath game on a Sunday
night, knowing exactly what happened and how. It’s similar
to how the Decision-Maker chains me to the chair to watch
some God-awful Matthew McConaughay movie.

Enough whining; let’s get into four down territory.

First down: A math book

Deion Sanders had the line of the day, albeit when talking
about the Eagles. “They have more problems than a math
book.” Prime-Time could have just as easily been
referring to the Cardinals. It’s not just one thing and
it’s certainly not just one guy. Handling
pressure…causing pressure. Turning the ball over…forcing
turnovers. Inaccurate throws…dropped passes. It’s
everywhere and everybody.

Second down: A metaphor

Once the Cardinals got down 28-0 you knew they had no shot
of winning the game yet you continue to watch. Why? You
want to see if they can play better than they did to start
the game. You know they won’t win; the goal is to simply
improve. This season is the same way. At 1-4, three games
behind the 49ers, the Cardinals are not making the
playoffs and are not winning this division. Yet you watch
the rest of the season with the hopes that they improve
enough to win somewhere down the road.

Third down: Whatchu talkin’ ‘bout Willis?

Saw this quote from Kevin Kolb (courtesy Paola Boivin and
Darren Urban) after the game. “It starts with meetings, it
starts with showing up to work on time getting in early
and getting your work done, all the stuff professionals
are supposed to do.” Hmmmmmm. I’d succumb to checkbook
journalism and pay real money to find out who he is
talking about.

Fourth down: Memory lane

Watching Adrian Peterson carry Patrick Peterson the way a
motorcycle carries a sidecar combined with the image of
Levi Brown’s abuse at the hands of Jared Allen was simply
too much to bear.

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