Tonight, I find myself defending Mike Wilbon for the first time in this space. In general, I think Wilbon is full of himself, a shameless homer, rabidly anti-Notre Dame and a tool. That said, I do not share the opinion of Mr. Irrelevant, the loser blogger who condemned Wilbon to an eternity in the infernal region.

This is all in relation to the tragic death of Redskins safety Sean Taylor last night. On the Monday edition of PTI, Wilbon said he was saddened, but not shocked that Taylor was shot in an apparent home invasion late Sunday night. Wilbon's rationale was that Taylor had been involved in some troubling off-field incidents in his first two seasons in the NFL. Mr. Irrelevant condemns Wilbon to Hell because Wilbon didn't stress the fact that Taylor had calmed down and lived a much different life in the last year or so with enough emphasis to satisfy Mr. Irrelevant.

As a Catholic, I have it on reliable rumor that no blogger, not even the greatest living authority on the DC sports scene in his own mind, is counted among the few authorities with the power to condemn a soul to an eternity in hell. I also didn't find the comments Wilbon made to be tremendously out of line, but then I am notoriously insensitive. It struck me that this was Wilbon's honest reaction to a tragic situation, and it's much better that he should come out and say this as opposed to shedding crocodile tears for the people involved.

Among Wilbon's words with which Mr. Irrelevant took issue is this sentence: "Whether this incident is or isn’t random, Taylor grew up in a violent world, embraced it, claimed it, loved to run in it and refused to divorce himself from it." Wilbon actually makes a good point there. One simply doesn't announce to all that one is retiring from a violent subculture because one has had a child and expect any and all bad blood to evaporate.

That's not the way the world works. People have long memories and regardless of race, culture or creed, there are very few people who are patient enough and rational enough to walk away from a grudge. I know I don't often give up grudges easily, and very little of any lasting emotional significance has happened to me in my life.

It was great that Sean Taylor changed his life. It was great that his coaches, teammates and fans loved and admired him. Sean Taylor didn't deserve to be murdered. But that doesn't mean that all people felt that way, simply because it was the correct and rational viewpoint. And that's what Wilbon was trying to say. He wasn't saying Taylor got what he deserved. He was saying that the world is a violent and irrational place and we can't count on everybody to change for the better because one safety on one NFL team got his life in order.

Far worse, I think, than what Wilbon said about Taylor was what Mr. Irrelevant seems to regard as Wilbon's real crime in this. WIlbon said something that wasn't nice to the blogging community. Wilbon came out and said this: "There’s a ton of speculation about the details of his condition and the details of the incident, but this isn’t a blog and we’re not going to get into wild guessing and speculating here". Can you imagine the gall of the man? Even the voice of reason that is the fanhouse at AOL couldn't stand Wilbon's obvious fear and contempt for Establishment-challenging blogs.

I hate to be the one to break this story on the blogosphere, but bloggers do engage in wild flights of fancy and speculation from time to time. Case in point, check out this guy and his bizarre predictions motivated in large part by personal antipathy rather than deductive reasoning. That's part of the point of a blog, isn't it? The freedom to say things, to take chances and not worry about the pressures exerted on conventional media.

Most blogs are a total waste of time. How many blogs are out there publishing something substantially different from or more insightful than the things average people email their friends about sports or politics or movies? It's just something that most bloggers don't want to admit, probably because they cherish the dream that they might through hard work and begging other sites for links and references vault themselves over every other site saying essentially the same damn thing to become the Marcel Proust of the 21st century.

If by that you mean an uber-tool admired by a legion of lesser tools, then, yes one blogger might become this generation's Proust. But if you mean by that that you have something to say to start an intellectual movement, then you might just want to cut the dose on your meds. With my luck, if there is a next generation Proust waiting in the wings in the blogosphere, it will probably be me. In case you haven't realized, I hate Proust.

On a lighter note, I couldn't help but chuckle at this story. Great Britain's vaunted MI-6 thinks that James Bond movies are hurting their efforts to recruit quality people, particularly in the minority communities and especially among Islamic populations. That's pretty funny. Apparently, British nationals who watch Bond movies are no cooler than their American counterparts. Too many of MI-6 applicants turn out to be losers who think they can seduce beautiful spies and destroy cutting edge gadgets for Queen and Country, rather than practical people with useful skills. It's nice to know that the next time the fate of the free world rests in a British dude's hands, he won't be wearing a tux and playing baccarat with a European floozy.

Ladies and gentlemen, there is an outrage being perpetrated as we speak. According to Bill Simmons, anonymous posters and bloggers are slandering famous people all over the internet. He has a long history of problems with blogs and bloggers, just look at this. I have seen a negative mention of my blog, and it upset me. I thought about posting my own response on the site, then I had a few beers, then I had a few more and eventually I got too lazy to do it. Then I got too drunk to do it, eventually I woke up hung over in a few hours and didn't really feel like responding.

Ordinarily, I wouldn't go overboard on this point, but I have something to say about the Sports Guy's whining that I mentioned in a recent post that has been weighing on my mind over the last few days. Seeing him whine about bloggers who slander people makes me wonder what exactly he thinks he does in his writing.

Is he entirely fair to Art Shell? I admit, Art Shell didn't bring images of George Patton to mind as he prowled the sidelines. But Art Shell is also an NFL Hall of Fame left tackle, and one of the best offensive linemen of all time. Is it worse to call a sportswriter a tool from Connectitcut who never slid into second base than to run down Art Shell for being a bad coach on a bad team?

And then there is Isiah Thomas. Isiah certainly doesn't think Simmons is very fair to him. Coach Thomas went so far as to call out the Sports Guy. I liked Simmons suggestion that the two meet in a more mature setting to hash out their differences. The more I look into this story arc, the more I see a few of Jay Mariotti's character traits in Bill Simmons. Perhaps Simmons shares the opinion of his physical prowess evident in the Deadspin poll of his odds of success in a fight against Mark Cuban.

I could talk too, about Doc Rivers, whom Simmons has criticized a number of times and for whose Celtics tenure Simmons even provided a premature obituary. And Danny Ainge, who has assembled a team that could not win even if Red coached them in his prime. Simmons has not called for his dismissal, even though the Sports Guy professes to love the Celtics.

What really bothers me is the slander on Springsteen. I grew up loving Springsteen's music. Like a lot of people at the time, I misinterpreted Born in the USA. In my defense, I was 5 when it came out in 1984. I was a bit more aware of contemporary music at that age than most children because I grew up in a house with four older brothers. Plus I like to think that even at that age my obvious natural superiority to my peers was well evident. NB- This blog isn't a very representative sample of my intelligence or writing ability. My laziness, anger issues, misanthropy and drinking habits are much more evident in this space.

To imply that Springsteen would consider selling a song of his to Verizon shows a fundamental ignorance of the man and his principles that cannot exist in an intelligent child of the 1980s. Springsteen came out an aggressively criticized the incumbent President of the United States for attempting to appropriate Born in the USA. He allowed Kerry to use No Retreat, No Surrender, but the Boss had campaigned against the current President as well. Springsteen also refused to allow American car makers to purchase the rights to the song for commercials.

As steamed as I am about that, it's still not enough to make Simmons the tool of the week. That honor goes to me today. As I looked over a few of my posts from earlier in the football season, I came across a sentence or two that I really want to delete. I actually questioned whether Florida was good enough to win the SEC championship game. I badmouthed Urban Meyer as a coach. I was right about Michigan as a team whjo whined a lot about their bowl position and then got killed. But I was wrong about BC on the same prediction. That and my track record in the NFL with the Bears and Cowboys.... Yikes.

A lesser man, or at least a less arrogant one, would have given up on picking the outcome of games. I am not one to accept it when I've been humbled. I'll continue fighting on in the face of every instinct that tells me to cut my losses. So this week, I think the Bears will beat the Seahawks.

It has all the telltale signs that I should have noticed last season when I picked the Bears over the Panthers. Last year, the Bears beat up on the Panthers in the regular season at Soldier Field. The defense dominated that meeting. Then the Bears had a quarterback change at the end of the season. Then they went on to play abysmally as the home team coming off a first round bye in last season's playoffs.

This season, the Bears played the Seahawks (who were without Tiki Barber's stunt double) and beat them convincingly. Their defense dominated the Seahawks. Now they come into this week's matchup against Seattle with a QB controversy, injuries and fatigue on defense (losing Tommie Harris hasn't helped, nor has Tank Johnson with his close friend's shooting death and the alleged arsenal at his house). But I think the Bears will win this one, even though Matt Hasselbeck's mom will be doing her best to care for the team in the hostile environment. I'm bound to be right sooner or later.

Then there is the much anticipated matchup between the Pats and the Chargers. In spite of my friend from San Diego and his man crush on Marcus McNeil, I have to take the Pats. Yes, I know that 75% of LDT's yards and TDs have come over the left side of the offense this season. I know McNeil is the left tackle, but is his mere presence enough to account for that. Without access to the entire season's game film and play calls, I can't speak with 100% certainty on this phenomenon. All I can do is ask questions.

For instance, where is Antonio Gates lined up when Tomlinson runs behind McNeil? Surely the presence of a receiver of his caliber impacts the alignment of the secondary. If he is on the other side of the field, the secondary must be lined up to reflect that and might, then, not be in ideal position to react to a back of LDT's talents quickly enough to stop him. LDT must get to the second level of the defense for this theory to come into play, and it's not likely that even the great LDT can do that without help from his left tackle. However, that might make McNeil A piece of the puzzle, as opposed to THE piece.

Another valid question: "Is Brandon Manumaleuna in the formation?" Manumaleuna is a great blocking tight end. He is valuable, both as a front side blocker and a decoy. If he's lined up next to McNeil, he's helping him out. If he's on the other side of the formation, he's drawing the focus of the defense away from McNeil's side. Again, it makes McNeil important, but not the end all be all of the scheme.

Finally, what was the ratio of yards and TDs gained over the left side last year, with the immortal Roman Oben (the same Romane Oben who flopped in Tampa Bay) holding the fort. Unless LDT got a lot more of his yards and TDs over the right side in 2005, I think the rush to crown McNeil was a bit premature. He is a very good tackle, especially playing left takcle as a rookie. Not quite rookie of the year, and no Willie Roaf, Jonathan Ogden or Orlando Pace, the dominant left tackles of the last generation.

Marcus McNeil is important in this matchup, since he will face two of the best defensive ends to play San Diego this season in Richard Seymour and Ty Warren. Is he ready for a Pro Bowl player like Seymour? I don't know, but it might be the least of San Diego's problems if Marty reverts to his past playoff form.

But there is also the question of Shawne Merriman and Jamal Williams. Can the Patriots handle those two Pro Bowlers? Jason Taylor ate the Pats tackles alive, and Merriman would have beaten Taylor for Defensive Player of the Year, but for the big if (the 1/4 of the season lost to the "false-positive" test for a banned performance enhancing substance). Jamal Williams is the best nose tackle in football, with apologies to Vince Wilfork, who turned out much better than I thought he would after watching his early seasons. I thought his bulk would keep him in the game, since he can't be pushed back too far, but now he's making plays. Only time will tell.

In the end, I'm picking the Patriots. It's win-win. Either the jinx holds, and the Patriots go down, or I'm right for a change. I'm not touching either of the other games. I want Baltimore and New Orleans to win, but I don't want to go out on a limb on either game.

TO fired his publicist today, finally. She would have been tool of the week, had she been cool enough to be a tool. I don't have words to describe what a bust she was/is. That was a weird situation. Just one more reason to make me tool of the week... I have Rosanna by Toto on my iPod.

While I am two days late to the party, I really meant to post this after Miami won. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance because I had to get up early in the morning to TCB (not that I own any TCB memorabilia, but Elvis' motto should be good enough for anyone). Then I started watching Firewall last night, and just didn't feel like posting last night. But it's official now, the Heat are the champions of the NBA.

Antoine Walker has a championship ring, and Danny Ainge is locked up in a secure location planning to draft the player that will cost the most money, take the longest to develop and compete for playing time at the 2 or the 3, like 9 other players on the current roster. There is always the possibility that Kevin Pittsnogle could be available. What a compliment he'd make to Raef LaFrentz (he's far too awful to get a link from this site). They'd have the tallest, softest front line that the NBA has seen in many a year. Read the profile in the link above and see if this is a fair synopsis: "He'd be a pretty good pro player, if he didn't suck." BTW, that site with his profile has Pittsnogle going to Charlotte at #50. Ainge won't let that happen.

Something occurred that was slightly more important than Antoine earning a measure of redemption (yes, his shooting percentage was everything the CHB et al. could have hoped for, but he played defense very well and he did pull 11 boards in game 6). The hexagonal conspiracy against Mark Cuban claimed another victory, although it was by the slimmest of margins. Mark Cuban served notice that he was through taking crap from David Stern's minions by staring the commissioner down after Game 5. Stern, however, seems not to have received the memo that Mark Cuban was not a man to be trifled with lightly. Game 6 went off according to plan, Miami won. Dallas lost. Wait till next year? Justice delayed is justice denied.

Every thinking person in America knows that Dallas should have won the series. Not only that, but they should have accomplished that feat in five games. No less a light than Ric Bucher said so on Sportscenter at the start of the series. Alas, he didn't say it in print on the ESPN site, so you have to take my word for it. And we all know that Ric is never wrong. Just ask him, and he'll tell you so.

For his part Mark Cuban denied that he stared the commissioner down, and denied that he ever said the series against Miami was rigged. You really have to read the blog to get a sense of the level of oppression endured by the Benefactor on the course of a given day. Tears sprang to my eyes when I read his impassioned plea to the editors/publishers/fact checkers at the Miami Herald to take the time to find out whether or not he owned a boat. It is a pleasant surprise to see Mark Cuban react to the events of these playoffs with everything but magnanimity. It makes it so much easier to criticize him.

blogMaverick is a treasure-trove for someone like me, who cannot stand its author. Aside from the fact that he's whiny and has a morbid aversion to the apostrophe, there is so much to criticize. This particularly entry, on the merits of cursing, Cuban comes off like a 12 year old talking trash to an authority figure to make his friends think he's hard. The Benefactor says he has no patience with people who waste his time. I wonder what else he had to do other than answer a simple question. A reporter asked him if the loss in question was the worst loss ever. Not the most intelligent of queries, I concede, but it was a chance for Cuban to drop an F bomb.

The Benefactor announced that he was commencing a crusade against corporate crime on HDNet in a recent post. It was unclear from his language whether his sale of broadcast.com to Yahoo! will be among the topics covered. According to his bio on NBA.com, broadcast.com is the "leading provider of multimedia and streaming on the Internet." Wikipedia does not present such a rosy picture. Here is an interesting case study of the build-up to the Yahoo! acquisition of broadcast.com. This guy seems to share my opinion of Cuban's business acumen, although it would be nice if he knew Jerry Jones owned the Cowboys and not Jerry Johnson.

The level of discourse present in the comments section of blogMaverick is pathetic. So pathetic in fact the author has discontinued them. But if you look on some of the older entries I linked up above. It seems that there is an infinite number of Dallas/Cuban fans willing to massage his ego and drink his Kool Aid. But based on the fact that they've met their demise, I must not have been the only person that had a problem with them. Perhaps Mark Cuban has at long last learned that the postings of a legion of sycophants in Dallas aren't enough to get a billionaire into a trendy New York City night club.

While I don't much care for the journalistic integrity of the New York Post, every now and then there's a gem like this in there. Read it to unearth tidbits like Mark Cuban seemingly making reference to his endowment (or lack thereof). Gossip must be taken with a grain of salt, and hearsay and conjecture aren't admissible in a court of law. Of course, this blog isn't a court of law. To me, the story has the ring of truth because I won't give the Benefactor the benefit of the doubt and because nothing can make Mark Cuban look more ridiculous than his own actions. All the money in the world, but not much in the way of class.

Mark Cuban was quick to declare that Bill Simmons is his new hero (based on the way his superstars played in crunch time against the Heat, he needed one) . Of course supporting almost everything Mark Cuban says is the surest path to wisdom. The Sports Guy's claim to that pinnacle rests on this plaintive lament about the future of the NBA. Of course, his statement that a Dallas victory might be better for the NBA because Miami riding Wade's success would inspire imperfect imitators (Vince Carter, Paul Pierce, Gilbert Arenas, et al.).

These would-be Wades will drive into the teeth of the defense time and time again at crunch time with their teammates watching them in Simmons' nightmare scenario. Dallas, in his view, is a much better role model because their offense is more diverse than that. So many players can shoot and score they never become a one man team. Of course, one could easily posit the argument that no one on the Mavs is man enough to take over a game when it really matters which is why their offense didn't stagnate at the end of the game vs. Miami. It disappeared entirely.

Yet one more reason to go after Mark Cuban is that he inspired Bob Ryan to write this column, which very nearly made me regret inducting him into the Max Mercy Hall of Fame. This particular tidbit just might be the second best evaluation of the Benefactor's behavior:

Each time a call is made against the Mavericks, [Cuban] stared intently at the big screen to see the replay. Invariably, he reacted to what he had seen by a) making a face, b) shaking his head vigorously, c) making a face while shaking his head vigorously, or d) spinning wildly while making a face and shaking his head vigorously.

I don't think that captured the ridiculously childish behavior of the Mavs owner as well as the quote I used from "As I Please 6," where George Orwell described someone as "looking more like a monkey on a stick than you would think possible for anyone who is not doing it on purpose." That is Mark Cuban in a nutshell.

I think by now I've spent enough time on the Benefactor, so I will move on to the series in general after a parting shot. This link will take you to an article by Jason Whitlock where he argues that the NBA ought to suspend Mark Cuban for a period of time to get him to tone down his criticism of officials. I think the writer overstates his case, but the parallel between Artest and Cuban is not entirely unreasonable. I think (perhaps hope might be a better word) that an owner cannot incite a riot. But the idea of banning the Benefactor from the arenas until he can behave like an adult is intriguing. Also, since I pride myself on giving the devil his due, I must applaud Cuban for his charity work on behalf of families who have lost loved ones in the ongoing unpleasantness overseas.

I noticed that the Maverick PA system played the Eye of the Tiger down the stretch in a timeout. Would that it had worked out to inspire the team. While Dwyane Wade came up big, the Dallas stars came up small (no pun was intended on the performance of the Dallas Stars hockey team who also came up small this postseason). I saw a woman in the crowd wearing a Nowitzness shirt. I hope the round-trip tickets to St. Louis, KC, San Antonio or Houston (courtesy of the Benefactor and American Airlines from Fan Appreciation Night) are enough to console the fans of the Mavs who found themselves Nowitzless in the 4th quarter.

I will not jump on the Wade bandwagon. He is a great player who was unbelievably clutch in this series, but I am not a bandwagon jumper. Never have been, never will be. I will dwell some more on the Mavs. Dirk did have 29 points in Game 6, but he went 0 for from the field in the 4th quarter and only had 2 points. He helped cause a turn over late in the 4th when he threw a relatively difficult pass to Erik "Hands of Stone" Dampier rather than take a shot himself. And when the Mavs were down 3, it was Jason Terry who took the last shot, not Dirk.

I understand that Miami took great pains to keep the ball out of Dirk's hands as much as possible. That said, great players are expected to find a way to lead their teammates to the promised land. Look at the lyric sheet for Springsteen's Promised Land, and tell me whether Dirk qualifies as a boy or a man. Miami got big contributions from role players. Haslem shot very well, Antoine got some big rebounds. Without Marquis Daniels, who knows if Dallas could have kept it close.

In the immortal words of Jim Morrison: "when the music's over, turn out the light." As the lights go out on the Mavericks, they and their can take consolation from the fact that it took all the Commish's horses and all the Commish's men to get Miami the title. That should tide them over, provided that they don't dwell on the infinite improbability that they are the only victims of human error in officiating.

About an hour ago, it looked like this was going to be a very melancholy post this evening. I could take a Red Sox win in extra innings, and maybe I could take Dallas beating Miami big. I wasn't sure that I could take both on the same day.

And then, things went far better than I could plan. Julian Tavarez melted down like only he can. Without any Devil Rays in the immediate vicinity for him to punch without provocation, Tavarez let up a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the twelfth. Just like that, it went from a 1 run lead, two outs away from a series opening win to a 5-2 morale crushing defeat. Good times.

I was much more pleased with the end of the Miami game. I am sure blogMaverick will contain a laundry list of reasons why the Mavericks should still be shooting free throws right now. Unfortunately, no one else has the rose colored contacts Mark Cuban wears to each game. The horribly cruel and capricious system of officiating has conspired to delay the just reward for Cuban's investment again.

What is even better is that the law of averages struck again. When you make 90% of your free throws, you miss 10% of the time. Too bad for Dirk that his miss had to come when his team trailed by 1 with 3.4 seconds to play. Then he went down and fould Dwyane Wade a bit harder than the situation probably required. Of course Wade committed at least 3 separate lane violations and 4 variations of loose ball fouls on the play in Mark Cuban's mind.

I don't like Dirk. I have hated him since he came into the league, and I'm sure I'll still hate him when he slinks back to Germany without winning a title, God willing. I must confess, I am mildly xenophobic. I hate the French and I hate Germans, other than that I don't have any specific dislikes where foreigners are concerned.

I hate Germans because they made David Hasslehoff an international singing sensation. Baywatch was inspired TV and Knight Rider sort of didn't suck at times, but Hasselhoff is a total cheese ball and a terrible singer. And yet German people love him. And Dirk has said that he sings "Lookin' for Freedom" to himself when he stands at the foul line. A tool of that magnitude deserves to fail in pressure situations.