I offer this paean in memory of the tragic death of Washington Redskin,  Sean Taylor.  I draw my inspiriration from the early 20th century elegiac poetry of A.E. Housman, specifically:  "an Athlete Dying Young." The introduction is a from T.S. Eliot's Wasteland- the Death by Water stanza.

         Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead,

            Forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep sea swells,

                And the profit and the loss.

                                                    A current under sea

picked his bones in whispers. As he rose and fell

                                      he passed the stages of his age and youth

                                             entering the whirlpool.

                                     Gentile or Jew

  O you who turn the wheel and look to windward

              Consider Phlebas, who once was handsome

                                             and tall as you.

The time you won your team the game

    We cheered you on, and showered fame

 Upon you.  We held you up as though a rock

 Star.  We knew not the time remaining on the clock.

 To-day the path of thugs and gangstas

 Ends where yours ends, we feel the pangs

Of loss and grief but wonder how you

Waste such strength and skill and now you

Break our hearts and leave us puzzled

At least Michael Vick survived and muzzled

Has another shot at glory or another

Day to see the light, your journey other

Places wends, unknown, uncertain

You disappear behind the curtain of

Eternity.

A once bright flame extinguished.

Once strong and fast and so distinguished

From the ordinary mortal: God's gifts

Were surely meant to lift

Us closer to him and to truth.

But alas, you have been brought low by brutes.

Perhaps you felt beyond their sting

Your bravado and your bling

No match for a thuggish glock.

Your demise, like that of Tupac

Steals from our joy.

Sleep well and teach the boys

Of Autumn how cold the ground

Where star-crossed lives become unwound.

Ralph Alter

Considering that the only real challenge left in the regular season for the Hate-riots is with the Steelers coming to Foxborough this weekend,  a New England victory will have the Chowderheads and ESPN home-boys declaring their Pats the Team of the Century.  This league is all about momentum and putting together a streak at the right time.  Mighty tough early,  New England looks slow and relatively ineffective lately.  What will a 16-0 regular season get them if they are knocked off by the Jaguars in the playoffs?  Or the Colts again? Professional sports most painful asterisk?

Note to NFL Announcers:  there is no such thing as a Jag-Wire.

 Why is it that the most physical teams in the NFL are the biggest crybabies?  I thought the whining from Jack Del Rio and his assortment of thugs was irritating until I heard the self-immolating old-timers from Baltimore start to blame their loss on everything and everyone but themselves.  Ever heard of winning and losing like a Man?

Speaking of ESPN: what a shame that this brilliant creation has devolved into Chris Berhman and his Boston neighbors shamelessly plugging the local teams while Monday Night finds Tony Kornheiser infuriating  every male over the age of 8 by shuttling has-beens and wanna-be's on camera right in the middle of the game.  Rumor has it , Tiger Woods text-messaged Charles Barkley while being interviewed by Kornheiser with the note"  "Shut up so we can watch the game~!" 

Anybody seen Randy Moss?  Has the league figured how to stop him?  His numbers are awfully  puny lately-9 catches for 77 yards in two weeks.  Journeyman numbers at best.

This week's Mensa candidates:  1.) Duante Culpepper for blowing out his groin in a footrace.  He wanted to prove he was still fast. Well he proved something-he's real dumb and probalby done in the NFL.  2.)  Reggie Williams for the block in Ty-juan Hagler's back after the whistle with Maurice Drew-Jones rushing for a first down at the  Colts 7. Jags settle for a field goal and the Colts win by 3.  Thank you Reggie!  and 3.)  Joe Gibbs calling 2 time outs in a row and giving Josh Scobee 15 fewer yards to kick for the winning field goal.  Did Joe think it was a pit stop or that they were running under a yellow?

Whatever happened to all the hype about Vince Young?  Apparently to be a successful quarterback in this league you have to learn how to PASS the ball.  Note to NFL Scouts and draft staffs:  every college quarterback that is going to be the next Michael Vick or Randall Cunningham or Vince Young is still going to be unable to become a Super Bowl winning quarterback.  Find a guy who can stay in the pocket and find his receivers and you have a shot at the big prize: no matter how talented an athlete your wishbone quarterback was at Stud State, he ain't gonna make it running the football in the NFL.

There has been some rumbling from down under in the weak-sister NFC this year, what with the Cowboys and the Packers playing effective football against their softer slates.  Favre has been a great story but his body is breaking down and Romo has all the glam and glitz and T.O. is actually acting like a citizen.  What is the under on T.O. making it a full season without a melt-down?  I would like to place my bet. 

Is anyone giving Jon Gruden the kudos he deserves for the 3 ring quarterback audition he ran in the pre-season?  Looks pretty smart today.

Will the Lions ever get it together?  Kitna has made a valiant effort but he gets no protection and his body is breaking down too.  Whatever else the Lions do this post-season, they need to develop a young, franchise quarterback and put together an offensive line to protect him and help him grow.  (I know, it's easier said than done.) The amazing job Howard Mudd has done with the broken and patched together Colts offensive line is proof that it isn't just about personnel.   You can scheme and coach your way into an acceptable protection scheme.

Steelers 19, Patriots 18 in a muckfest.

    The game of the century looms large and immediate-Darth Belichik and the New England Patriots have stolen the World Champion Indianapolis Colts' thunder as they have become the NFL's offensive juggernaut du jour.  Even in 2005,  while the Colts made the most serious run at an undefeated season since the 1972 Dolphins, they were considered a one dimensional, high-scoring  modern day Air Coryell.  Ah, but then the Colt's delivered and won their first Super Bowl.

    Now the Pats have had an incredible run early this season:  Brady is throwing TD's at a pace that seems sure to break Peyton Mannings' single season passing touchdown record.  Randy Moss is being the modest, humble, model citizen we have all come to love and respect and the brilliant off-season acquistions orchestrated by Belichik and company are cooking with gas.  A couple of questions need to be addressed before the big game:

    How did the Patriots get to this point and how do the Colts go about dismantling the ESPN/Massachusetts/Eastern Seaboard hype machine?

  Clearly, Belichik was getting tired of having the Colts hand him his ass.  The Colts have taken the last 3 in a row from the once-feared Hate-riots, and they probably would have taken a couple of the games prior to those 3 but for some well-timed, faked injuries by Willie McGinnest and company.   The Pats have been on the other end of the point-a-minute Lighting offense and got plum fed up with it.    Belichik could'nt beat 'em so he joined 'em!  Faced with the prospect of Peyton Manning on the other side of his vaunted defense for another 10 years or so,  The Unacoach (he does dress like the Unabomber) went Red Sox on the NFL and decided to buy a better offense.

    This has worked brilliantly while the Chowderheads have run up the score on the Dolphins (0-8), the Jets (1-7), the Bills and Bengals and the Browns.  The Colts on the other hand, have had to settle for a mere 32 points per game against far superior defenses:  the Jaguars, the Titans, the Broncos and the Panthers.   This despite the fact that the NFL's coaching braintrust has reached a consensus finding on how to at least have a chance to beat the Colts:  keep Peyton Manning and his offense off the field.

   From the goofy 4 on-sides-kicks in the first half machinations of Jeff Fisher's Titans in 2005, to the steady diet of all-rush/no pass the Colts are fed week in and week out, NFL head coaches choose death by anything  but Peyton.  The Colts continue to win, despite the elaborate games of keep-away designed to thwart them:  do you think Tony Dungy has been paying attention?

  The Colts revered head coach came from Tampa hailed as a defensive genius only to be handed the greatest offensive weaponry in the history of the game.  Peyton will end up with every conceivable passing record in the game by the time he is finished.  And Marvin Harrison will certainly be the #2 all-time receiver in NFL history, with a slim chance of catching Jerry Rice for #1.   Edgerin James put up Hall of Fame numbers here and Joseph Addai is doing the same.  Dallas Clark plays tight end like no player who has ever played the game and he is rapidly eclipsing the records of John Mackey, one of the true legends of the game and the proto-type for the modern tight end.

  With all this firepower, Dungy had never been able to put together his patented, lightning quick, swarming Tampa-2 defense here in Indianapolis.  Bill Polian continues to draft the "best talent available" every season, and the trickle down to the defense has been slow.  That combined with the team's need to balance their talent needs with salary cap requirements has seen Indy let many Pro-Bowl caliber defenders go.   You gotta sign Peyton and Marvin and Reggie and Dallas and Dwight Freeney and fill in the blanks with younger, fresher, FASTER talent on defense.

  Well Tony's D has finally grown up and is making  its stand.  You have heard the old saying:  Two thirds of the earth is covered by water and the other third is covered by Bob Sanders!  Marlon Jackson and Ty-juan Hagler and Gary Brackett are quicker than a hiccup and they hit like Ike Turner.   New England hasn't faced a defense remotely like this one.

  The Colts have scored their 32 points a game with a remarkably balanced attack, equal parts Addai and Kenyon and death by Harrison, Clark and Reggie Wayne.  25 total touchdowns with 13 coming from the passing attack.   New Englands 30 passing TD's are balanced(?) by just 8 rushing TD's.   The Colts have the stingiest defense in league against the pass on completions of more than 10 yards.   In the past, the Pats have dinked and dunked with their 4-5 yard passes and moved the chains.  Now they do it much differently, but so do the Colts.

  Watch for Dungy to devise a game plan with the keep-away strategy he has played against for the last two years in the NFL.   The Colts will eat up the clock with their ball control offense and will continue to score their 30-or-so points per game.  The Patriots will have no choice but to air the ball out and Brady will be easy pickings for Raheem Brock and Dwight Freeney.   Brady gets sacked 4 times, with 2 interceptions as the Colts roll 30-14.  And finally the Chowderheads can shut up already!

A response to In battle of 5-0 teams, Dallas needs it more

Unless the opposing quarterback is Peyton Manning.  The Pats are a terrific team this year (as usual) and will go 14-2.  Unfortunately, both of those losses will come in Indianapolis and the Colts will repeat as Super Bowl Champions.

          The ridiculous headline in the Indy Star regarding Shawne Williams on 9/14 read:  "Pacers Lay Down the Law."  Really?   A 3 game suspension for a player flagrantly disrespecting several laws and having no indication of accepting responsibility for himself or his behavior is laying down the law?

   The hippie logic of the 60's made it clear that the chances of being busted carrying illegal drugs were the same as the chance that a canary could pick up the  Soldier & Sailor's Monument and carry it to the moon.  Of course there was one provision:  You can't commit two crimes at once.

  Let's see now, Williams made an improper lane change: crime 1.  He had no driver's license: crime 2.  He had not registered his vehicle (expired plate):  crime 3.  He had a "cigar sized marijuana cigarette" burning in the ashtray: crime 4.  He had a friend in the car with a stolen gun with no license to carry it: crimes 5 & 6.

   Bird claims that Williams "is a good kid who made a bad decision."  Which decision was the bad one:  to never get a driver's license?  I am a business owner and I wouldn't think of having an employee driving without a license.  There are thousands of young Americans who earn the minimum wage or slightly better, scraping by to save up the money to get their licenses.  Why doesn't a young millionaire have a driver's license and why was no one on the Pacers aware of this? Doesn't the Pacer's insurance company require the presentation of driver's licenses?  Wouldn't you think the player's agent, Happy Walters, would provide a modicum of responsible advice to his young charge about how to conduct his business?  Or is he just "Happy" to walk off with his 15% for negotiating his client's ridiculously excessive contract?

  Or maybe the decision to fire up a fattie the size of a ball park hotdog while illegally driving was the bad decision?  How do the police and prosecutor justify NOT charging Williams with possession?  Even Lindsay Lohan didn't get away with the "it wasn't mine" alibi.  Is there any other reader out there who buys this BS excuse?  If your son or daughter were similarly apprehended, do you think the prosecutor would wink and look the other way for YOUR family? What the police and prosecutor are doing here is enabling in the worse possible sense and they are derelict in their duty in this case. 

  Or maybe it was a bad decision to hang with his thug friend who just happened to be carrying a stolen gun used in a crime in Tennessee, without a license to carry.  Sounds like a good way to end up shot.

  This is not a "good kid who made a bad decision."  This is a reckless and irresponsible, coddled young man given a free pass due to his freaky genetic ability to grow 7 feet tall.  He hasn't earned the right to disregard our laws, nor does he deserve to represent our team.

  Bird claims he is "laying down the law" and "setting an example" for the team.  Unfortunately, the example is, that if you want to use pot or act like a thug, you can get away with a slap on the wrist and come back to earning your millions.  This tiny suspension is self-serving to the Pacers and a horrible precedent for a team looking to re-build its image.  I know the Pacers desperately need players, but they are going to need fans too, and the last couple of crops of thugs has run off their fan base.

    How about a 30 game suspension with some serious requirements attached: 

1.)         Attend drug counseling for a year and complete classes about drug abuse.

2.)         Provide proof of driver's license and insurance and auto registration for any car(s) owned by Williams.

3.)         Attend gun safety classes and provide proof of passing the exams.

4.)         Be placed on team probation for 12 months minimum with any further brushes with the law being grounds for removal from the team.

  While Mr. Bird is a folk-hero here in Indiana, he has presided over a sorry decline in the quality of the team as a direct result of the lack of discipline enforced upon it.  How about sending a real message:  Breaking the law, using drugs and hanging with criminals is 100% not acceptable and will be dealt with in draconian fashion.  Maybe we can get our team back.