Michael Wilbon sounds like an idiot
On Wednesday, Kornheiser and Wilbon were discussing some of the Pro Bowl snubs. Some of this is word for word, other is paraphrasing.
Kornheiser: I like Brett Favre, but I think Pennington probably deserved to go over him.
Wilbon: Forget Pennington; I want to talk about two other guys: Kerry Collins and Matt Cassel. I don't want to hear about QB Rating or TD/INT ratio. They've led their teams. The best record in the league still belongs to Tennessee. Kerry Collins and Matt Cassel belong in the Pro Bowl ahead of Brett Favre.
Surprisingly, Michael Wilbon didn't cry at all last year about Adrain Peterson making the Pro Bowl, despite the Vikings going 8-8 and not making the playoffs.
Kornheiser: By the way, Matt Cassel's record is the same as Brett Favre's this year.
Wilbon: I don't care; he's had a better season than Favre this year.
So apparently stats do matter after you get facialed by Tony Kornheiser.
Korneiser: You see I'd put in Pennington over Favre because Pennington has a +8 TD/INT ratio to Favre's +4.
Wilbon: Would you put in Collins and Cassel?
Kornheiser: Collins: no. Cassel: Maybe.
Wilbon: How?
I know it's hard to believe, Mike, but it seems as if Kornheiser has (perhaps mistakenly) locked onto a rational thought process. Seriously though, what does it say about you when you're getting schooled in logic by Tony Kornheiser.
Kornheiser: You know who I would put in? PHILLIP RIVERS WHO HAS 28 TOUCHDOWN PASSES TO 11 INTERCEPTIONS!
Wilbon: STOP! Stop with the stats. Don't turn yourself into a stat geek. Phillip Rivers' team stinks and he is the leader of the offense. I don't care if he has 100 touchdown passes, he has failed in the clutch.
Whereas Kerry Collins has been decidedly awesome with his 78.7 QB Rating, sandwiching him in between Neckbeard and Tyler the Skeleton Fucker on the QB Rating list. The only thing that matters is the win/loss record, which in no way effected by variables such as the other 52 guys on the team, coaching, officiating, weather, dumb luck.
Yes, lets just throw out all the stats when deciding who goes to the Pro Bowl and just base it off win/loss record (which may or may not be a stat). If only there was some sort of Bowl game that was just the best team from the NFC vs. the best team from the AFC. Man, that'd be Super.
UPDATE:
For those who don't know why I referred to Tyler Thigpen as "Tyler the Skeleton Fucker."
17 comments:
I like Wilbon, but getting schooled that badly by Tony Kornheiser... good god. It's sad to see Wilbon jump on the "anti-stat geek" wagon, especially to the point where he doesn't consider a QB's supporting cast (such as, for instance, a league-leading defense!) when determining how well he has played this year.
I guess Favre gets credit for the fumble recovery and touchdown from the Jets most recent game.
Collins has topped 200 yards in a game 3 times this year. Man, that's clutch. And last Sunday, when he led them to a come from behind win over the Texans in the 4th quar- Oh wait. He didn't. He overthrew his receiver on 4th and game. That was MEGA-clutch.
Collins has led the Titans to 2 close wins this year- against Baltimore and Green Bay. The Green Bay game was an OT victory in which they won the toss and immediately drove 55 yards for the field goal. Let's check out the Titans' play calls in that OT, shall we?
C. Johnson right end for 4 yds
K. Collins pass incomplete short right
K. Collins pass short right to C. Johnson for 16 yds
C. Johnson right guard for 14 yds
C. Johnson left tackle for 3 yds
L. White up the middle for 3 yds
L. White left guard for 7 yds
C. Johnson up the middle for 5 yds
C. Johnson left end for 3 yds
Field Goal is good
Wow. 1 for 2, 16 yards (nearly all of which were probably picked up after the catch, I'm guessing it was a screen), and 7 successful handoffs. In a word: CLUTCH.
As for the Baltimore game, he actually did have a good 4th quarter and turned in a "clutch" drive to score the game winning TD with 2 minutes left. However, his line for the game was 17/32, 168 yds, 1 TD, 2 INTs. So he HAD to be clutch there, in order to make up for his shitty play during the first 3.5 quarters. Man, if this guy doesn't win MVP, it'll be a travesty.
I just don't see why idiots like Wilbon (and all the idiots who spent 2006 and 2007 crediting Vince Young for the Titans' success) can't figure out that it's the defense and run game that are getting the job done. Why? Why is it always the fucking quarterback? YOU COVER SPORTS FOR A LIVING, MIKE. You don't have another job that takes up all your time and prevents you from realizing that Kerry Collins isn't good, he just plays for a team that's good. It shouldn't be very hard for you to figure this shit out. Why is it always the QB for sportswriters? Why? WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY? Why are the people who make their living covering sports so incompetent when it comes to understanding sports?
It's the same thing with managers in baseball. Know why the Dodgers made the playoffs this year after missing them in 2007, while the Yankees made them in 2007 and missed them this year? That's right: Joe Torre. Jesus H. Christ on a chicken spit.
If you really want to go by record, the QB's for the NFC should be Eli Manning and Jake Delhomme. I don't there is anyone who is rational/irrational that can get behind those two selections.
How does the record of the team get the quarterback in the Pro Bowl but this does not extend to any other position? Should the entire Giants offensive/defensive line be in the Pro Bowl because they have a great defense?
It is so ironic, that sportswriters who are supposed to be neutral and base their opinions on facts when covering sports base so many of their decisions on who should make the Pro Bowl with emotion and bizarre intangibles. There is no reason Kerry Collins should be in the Pro Bowl. None.
I realize Eli Manning made the Pro Bowl, I meant no one can get behind Delhomme making the Pro Bowl, which he clearly does not deserve. Also, under the "team record" theory, don't Gus Frerotte/Tavaris Jackson deserve a mention at some point?
Michael Wilbon's generally a solid dude, but sometimes he can just have these sorts of outbursts of irrationality wherein you want to say to him: Michael...calm down. You're embarrassing yourself.
I agree with a fair amount of things Michael Wilbon says...not so much here. I guess this is what happens when you have to give your opinion 30 minutes a day for five days a week. Eventually you are very wrong.
side note: who is Tyler the Skeleton Fucker, and how did he get that amazing nick name?
Tyler Thigpen I believe is the person he is referring to. I think...and I have never heard of that nickname at all.
Maybe his girlfriend is super skinny.
Maybe he's a necrophiliac.
This post was fucking amazing.
I'd also like to completely and totally denounce TD/INT ratio and TD passes in general as a way to measure a quarterback's skill. TD passes literally could not be closer to the football equivalent of pitching "wins".
You throw a great drive's worth of passes, then the fullback punches it in from the one. Your defense recovers a fumble deep in the opposing territory, and you just drop an easy 6-yarder into the endzone.
We need to invent Quarterback EqA. Passer rating isn't nerdy enough.
Pnoles:
http://footballoutsiders.com/stats/qb
Still doesn't account for the players around them, but it's a start.
People want to latch on to the quarterback because it's the easiest and cheapest story. It's much more facile to feel good about yourself for noting how "clutch" Kerry Collins must be than do the hard legwork of understanding team mechanics.
Furthermore, people are only too willing into believing into the myth of individual superheroes.
What? It's unfunny answers week here in CitX Land.
boooooooring
Post a Comment