In like a lamb

A sentimental journey follows this week's Insider

Have a comment or question for Dr. Z? Click here.

I'm as sentimental as the next person, and I'll tell you with all sincerity that it brightened my declining years to see the support I got on my announcer ratings piece. Or maybe Jimmy was just feeling sorry for the poor old walrus and loaded his satchel with only the good stuff. Many thanks to the people who supplied the kind words. "Stop, you're gonna have me weeping," says the Redhead, with a sneer. Damn, honey, you've gotten awfully hard. At any rate, sorry if I don't thank all of you individually, but that would really make this column unreadable. You know who you are, or at least I hope you do.

Dave of Ocala, Fla., is happy that someone put his own sentiments into words (sounds like a song) and reminds me of the time I embarrassed him by asking him where fellow Wisconsonite Tim Krumrie was born. I honestly don't remember this, which doesn't mean it didn't happen. Seems like kind of a dopey thing to do, when all you had to do was look it up in the Bengals' guide or the NFL Register.

Charles of NYC points out a notable omission in the ESPN crew's telecast of the Bucs-Eagles playoff. Why was Rashard Cook, another safetyman, in the Philly defensive lineup? Naturally, the trio in the booth made no mention of this. It bugged me, too, so I went back afterward and looked at the tape. The Bucs were loading up with the two big backs, plus a second tight end, Todd Yoder, substituting for the flanker, Jacquez Green. The Eagles countered by pulling corner Bobby Taylor and bringing in Cook, a special teams heavy hitter. Naturally, the TV crew failed to even notice this. I thought it was interesting. Glad you asked the question because it was one of about a million omissions that this trio regularly makes. Which is why they got 1 1/2 stars.

You ask how the dedicated fan can "go around" the announcers and you suggest possibly resorting to the radio. Well, when you figure it out, let me know, because I've been asking the same thing for years. I've tried radio, particularly on Monday nights, but it doesn't work. You need to have the narration, no matter how silly it is, tuned in to the picture because then you'll know when a replay is coming. Otherwise you'll blow some of them.

To Taylor of Kansas City: Glad you mentioned Ron Jaworski's work on ESPN, particularly on the Edge NFL Matchup. It's my favorite show. I've watched tapes with Ron down at NFL Films, and believe me, this guy works at it. I can't get enough of his stuff. I'm like the Lady Named Ransome in the old limerick, hollering for more. (Sorry, but I can't repeat the ditty because this is a family show.) I'm often afraid that Ron is too technical for some folks, so it makes me happy to see that at least one person isn't scared off by serious and meaningful analysis.

Chris of Halifax brings up a very tough and at times painful matter to deal with, notably how do I handle having to rip people I'm friendly with, and how does it affect our relationship? It works the same way with players and coaches I have to criticize. Ours is basically a sourball profession. Newspaper people who write nothing but puff, except when they're slamming easy targets they don't know personally, have an easier lifestyle, but they seldom produce anything I'd want to read. I've lost friends because of what I wrote, and many times I've asked myself if it was really worth it. I'm still not sure. I'm only human, though, and sometimes ... well, let me give you an example.

When I was the New York Post's beat man, covering the Jets, the player I became closest to was Winston Hill, the offensive tackle. I mean, our wives used to play tennis together, our babies would spend hours in the playpen together. One day he said to me, "You know, there's gonna come a time when I'm not playing well, and you're gonna have to write it. Just go ahead and do it. It won't affect our friendship." I was practically in tears. "I'll NEVER write that," I said, choking on the words. Well, I never did. I found other things to write about. Unfair, you say. Privileged treatment. Yes, it's all true, but as I said, I'm only human.

To Bob of Katy, Texas, who would like to see an article about former announcers I miss. Well, I'll mention them from time to time but I don't think it could carry a whole piece because many people wouldn't know the people I'd be writing about. You cited Merlin Olsen. Yes, I liked him, too. Very gentle, sometimes a little too gentle for my tastes, but he knew his stuff and he worked at it. One of the most reflective and decent people I've ever encountered on the NFL scene, by the way.

Beck of Atlanta was shocked by Mike Sherman's silly decision to go for two at the wrong time in the 49ers-Packers game and was doubly shocked that the whole thing blew by Madden and Summerall. I was surprised, not shocked, by both. I didn't know where Sherman's head was for the whole game. I mean, the way he had Brett Favre under wraps for the entire first half -- eight passes thrown, with no completion longer than 11 yards. It was like hitching up a spirited stallion to a beer wagon. So anything the coach did of a dopey nature didn't shock me. Madden and Summerall? Well, run the tape back and erase my notation that I was surprised by their fogginess. Your Super Bowl fears are justified. Fox is doing the game. Sorry.

Lisa of Brentwood, Tenn. (and I'm glad you agree with me about Chris Spielman's exceptional work) wins the prize for the question that will generate the longest answer. She wants a "quick rating" of the pregame shows. Well, I guess you know that nothing I ever do is quick, which is known as getting old and tiresome. I was going to include the pregame shows in my column, as I did a few years ago, but I figured enough already. So guess what? Because of your query I'm going to get to do it anyway.

What I do on Sunday mornings is to turn on ESPN two hours before kickoff to get the hard news. Very solid reporting here, especially by Chris Mortensen. The analysis? I have trouble with only one aspect of it, the brutal way in which Sterling Sharpe goes after Steve Young. A guy who was always mean and nasty doesn't change when he gets behind the microphone. But the guy does offer some interesting insights at times. An hour later, when ESPN is into its features mode, I switch to Fox. I think the team has smoothed out the rough spots and is now very entertaining and at times enlightening. James Brown keeps it moving. Terry Bradshaw, now that he's realized that you don't have to be continually outrageous to be funny, is a clever fellow. Howie Long is the brains of the outfit and he does more preparation than any of them. I used to find Cris Collinsworth a pain in the butt, but now I kind of dig his deliberately abrasive approach. A good show to watch. Ten minutes or so into the production they switch to the weather lady, which is fine with me, and then Jimmy Kimmel, whom I take pains never to miss because I want to see how his picks stack up against mine. Make that his handicapper's picks because Jimmy doesn't do the forecasting. I don't know who does it for him, but whomever he is, he's uncanny in the way he picks upsets you'd never expect. I mean, the guy's really good. Jimmy's brand of humor doesn't appeal to everybody, but I get a real kick out of his stuff. The parody he did on the Monday night ABC guy had me rolling off my chair. For the next 40 minutes or so I flip back and forth between Fox and ESPN, usually cutting out on whichever is in commercial. When the Fox guys do that bit in which they line up and demonstrate stuff, I'll give CBS a quick look, only to hear what Jerry Glanville might be saying. Generally the rest of it is a waste of time for the simple reason that the other guys don't work very hard at it. Jerry, when he gets off the yahoo stuff, will actually tell you something from time to time, i.e., his mention of how the Dolphins would get nothing done if they tried to work the sidelines and the flats against that Ravens defense. As for Deion, puh-leeze. Gimme a break. It's embarrassing. A whacked-out preacher bordering on hysteria. And whoever dreamed up the idea of stationing those guys in front of a live crowd on the sidewalk? I mean, please explain to me what it adds.

As per instructions, I've told my lovely wife hello for you. Right now she's tired, so the only clever response she can think up is "Hello."

A pair of Mikes, from Hoboken, N.J., and Fairfax, Va., wonder why I didn't take a rip at Eric Dickerson, who works the sidelines for ABC. Because I feel sorry for him. And if I were arguing your side of it, I'd counter with, "Well, you ripped Melissa Stark. Don't you feel sorry for her?" No.

Tim of Chicago wonders why Dave Wannstedt escaped the hammer when Tony Dungy didn't, given the fact that their offenses were both cockamamie. Dungy changed coordinators every five minutes. Wannstedt had the good sense to hire Chan Gailey last year, but Jay Fiedler was his own mistake. At least he can fall back on the injury excuse. The O-line was a disaster, with the left side wiped out and jayvees manning two spots. Then his fullback went down, and his long-ball receiver was hurt for the playoffs. And they never really addressed their tight end situation. I've been doing a lot of copping out here, but I guess the real answer is that Wannstedt has more excuses at his disposal than poor Tony did. About 10 minutes into the Ravens game, though, I never felt that the Dolphins were in it, and I was wringing my hands at the error I made in picking them.

Rich of Queens wants a scenario for a Packers upset this weekend. Kurt Warner's stomach flu is so bad that his timing is way off. Don't buy it? Me, neither. Brett Favre gets hot early, Warner throws a pick or two, and all of a sudden the Rams are in an unfamiliar catch-up mode and they start pressing and screw things up. Nah, I'm not really sold on that one, either. The Packers show the same all-or-nothing blitz mentality they used against the Niners, and combined with their edge rushers, Reynolds and Gbaja-Biamila, they put more pressure on Warner than he can handle. I like that one about the best of all of the scenarios, which doesn't mean that I like it.

Eagles-Bears questions from Irv of Colorado Springs, Miss. Just kidding. We all know it's in Colorado. What was the question again? Oh yeah, Iggles-Bears. Irv asks if I would say that the game will come down to which team throws the ball better. Nope, I've never liked such easy generalizations. Donovan McNabb and the defense have won games in which he wasn't particularly sharp on his passing. Ditto the Bears with Miller, who runs one of the most dink-conservative offenses in football. I think turnovers will be big because I don't see many long drives generated by either side. Ditto special teams. Watch the punters. Both have the ability to kill the ball inside the enemy's 10-yard line. You know that stat the NFL releases every week, number of punts inside the 20? It's basically meaningless. Inside the 10 is what they pay off on. I kind of favor Brad Maynard of the Bears, but Sean Landeta is a money player. Here's another key: Which team can sustain a running game, not as a steady diet but as an effective mixer? I think the nod there goes to the Bears, based on the O-line. From the Eagles' standpoint, I don't like the matchup of Tra Thomas against Phillip Daniels or Jon Runyan against Rosevelt Colvin, the nickel rusher, on the other side. I'm penciling in two sacks for Colvin right now. Irv wants to know which defense I like better. Bears, but I prefer the Philly secondary, which I think is the best in the business.

Steve of Louisville, Ky., wants to talk about Elvis Grbac and the pressure a "just don't screw it up" approach can put on a quarterback. First things first. Against the Vikings, Grbac looked as bad as I've ever seen him and as bad as any quarterback I've seen this year. So the next week they basically took him out of the equation and put the game in the hands of their O-line and backs (except for that shocking 45-yarder he completed). Fine. It worked against the Dolphins, but it won't work against the Steelers. A just-don't-screw-it-up mentality usually comes from a head coach whose background is on the defensive side. The surprising thing about the Ravens is that Brian Billick is an offensive coach. When an offensive coach gives a QB that mandate, he's not a coordinator, he's an uncoordinator. Despite everything, though, this is the second year that Billick has had that kind of quarterback. And who did he have before Trent Dilfer took over? Tony Banks? Stoney Case? Gimme a break. Are you seeing a trend here? You're right, telling a quarterback to be sure not to lose the game just impedes his ability to win it. But if the guy's a stiff, what can you do? I don't know who the Ravens' QB will be next year, but I'm beginning to wonder about Billick's ability to get a clear reading of the position. You said that Terry Bradshaw is the only great QB you can think of who played on a team with a great defense. That got me thinking. Not exactly accurate. How about Jim McMahon (good, not great, but at least he was bold) with the Bears? Or Y.A. Tittle with the Giants? Or Sid Luckman with the old Bears? Or Bart Starr with the Packers? Or Fran Tarkenton with the Vikings? Or Roger Staubach with the Cowboys? Nope, Steve, better ditch that theory.

Mike of Indianapolis attributes the success of the Ravens' running game to a bevy of backs, all with fresh legs. Not me. I attribute it to the superior work of an O-line that really has come together. They could put Ron Dayne behind that unit and he'd look like Bronko Nagurski.

Doug of Cranford, N.J., continues his defense of Terrell Owens as a more worthy all-pro candidate than my guy, Keyshawn Johnson. Here's what I don't like about Owens. In the biggest game of the season, he caught four balls for minimal yardage and dropped two, a mid-range crossing pattern and a short out, both times when the DB sat on the route. After the game he sang his usual song about how they weren't going to him enough. I think I know what he meant. He wanted to go deep. The problem was that Jeff Garcia wasn't getting enough time for a long look downfield. And if Owens would have caught the short stuff and made himself a nuisance, then they might have zoned him a bit more and given him room in which to operate. It's all what if, but I just don't like a guy who screws it up and then whines afterward.

Have a comment or question for Dr. Z? Click here.

 

Related information
Multimedia
Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video
Search our site	Watch CNN/SI 24 hours a day
	Sports Illustrated and CNN have combined to form a 24 hour sports news and information channel. To receive CNN/SI at your home call your cable operator or DirecTV.