Cardinal sin

Poor team, oppressive weather has hurt football in Tempe

TEMPE, Ariz. -- I had never worn shorts to cover a football game until Saturday night, when I attended what was maybe the hottest game in NFL history.

As I stood on the east side of Sun Devil Stadium two hours before the 7 p.m. MST kickoff, the sun beat down on me and a dozen or so players. The feeling was eerie. One of the yellow-shirted guards told me it was 116 degrees in the sun, and it really felt like we were in a sauna, except we also had hot lights beaming down on our foreheads, making the heat more intense. Even when there was a very slight breeze, the breeze was broiling and provided not a scintilla of relief. I figured if I stayed out there, right in that spot, for more than 10 minutes, I was going to get sick. I also figured if the sun wasn't down on both sidelines of the field when the ball was kicked off, playing a game in that heat would have quite seriously constituted cruel and inhuman punishment. Eleven preseasons ago, the Cardinals and Bears played when it was 110 degrees, which was the highest temperature ever recorded during a pro game in Arizona for a Cardinals game. I don't think grid action -- pro grid action, at least -- has even taken place on a hotter day anywhere

Arizona quarterbacks coach Geep Chryst was working with his team's backups, Josh McCown and Preston Parsons, mostly in the shaded part of the field, when he saw me.

"Peter!" he yelled. "Get out of that sun! What are you doing down here?!"

It was like those stories you hear about longtime homeowners who refuse to leave their property even though a forest fire is raging just a few miles away and is headed their way. Chryst came over to talk. "You've got to get in the shade, you really do," he said. He told me the Cardinals, who train at 7,000 feet above sea level two hours up the road in cooler Flagstaff, began hydrating for this game on Thursday, with the coaching staff monitoring the players' fluid levels, because they knew this would be an insane evening.

"I grew up in Wisconsin," he said, "and I truly believe after coaching out here that a day like this is as hard to play in for a visiting team as a day in Green Bay in the winter."

It will be very easy to open the paper this morning, check the Saturday night box scores of the late preseason games and say: "Are you kidding? Emmitt Smith plays his first game as a Cardinal, and Bill Parcells returns to the NFL, and they only draw 23,838 paid?" I'm guessing that paid crowd in Tempe was really about 18,000. It was not a very good sign that just 16 people occupied the 34 rows of the upper-deck section along the 45-yard-line.

It was 110 degrees when the ball was kicked off, at 7:06 p.m.

It was 107 when the second half kicked off, at 8:43.

When I stepped out of the press box elevator at 9:40 to go to the locker room, the sauna enveloped me again. It had to still be 100-and-something.

This is the long way of saying I don't blame the fans for staying away from this team's game by the thousands. During the game -- which aired on tape-delay in Phoenix, but was shown live in the press box lounge -- owner Bill Bidwill's son, Michael, went on the broadcast and spoke proudly of the new stadium that is under full construction in suburban Glendale. "(It's) Air-conditioned," he pointed out proudly, and it had better be. Just down Route 202, in downtown Phoenix, it was 80 degrees inside BankOne Ballpark as the Diamondbacks and Mets played. There, 41,934 people sat inside in relative comfort. Now, I'm not saying if the Cardinals keep bumbling and stumbling around that they'll draw big crowds, but I can tell you this: You're won't get any crowds in August and September in this town playing outdoors.

It's a sin that this team has been here 15 years without getting a new stadium, and it's amazing that the reclusive Bill Bidwill could never make it happen before now in such a fertile sporting environment.

"Cason, an every-down back? Are you kidding me? He'd be in a coffin within a week."

--Bill Parcells, on the chances of longshot Aveion Cason winning the starting running back job with the Cowboys.

This quote was reminiscent of the the time a reporter expressed surprise that Parcells, who grew up in New Jersey, 15 miles from Yankee Stadium, would have such affection for the Red Sox and distaste for the Yankees. "Are you kidding me?" Parcells said. "I wouldn't root for the Yankees if they were playing Poland."

... Starting Cincinnati quarterback Jon Kitna, who is no dummy. He knows it's only a matter of time before the Carson Palmer Era begins, and Kitna has seen in training camp how accurate and strong-armed Palmer is. I met Kitna outside the cafeteria at Bengals camp in Georgetown, Ky. He was wearing a black hat with a white cross on the front.

MMQB: How's the mentoring going?

Kitna: Funny you should say that. People keep saying to me, 'Well, you'll have a lot to teach Carson Palmer.' I will? I'm an undrafted free-agent from Central Washington. He's the Heisman Trophy winner from USC, the first pick of the draft. You can't be any more opposite as players entering the league than us.

MMQB: Are you sad that it's only a matter of time before the kid takes your job?

Kitna: I'm not sad at all. Look at me. I've been blessed, playing eight years in the league. This year's a great opportunity. This is the first time I've come into a camp as the No. 1 guy without any questions. It's what I've been waiting for. I've been in the same system for three years, and it's my team.

MMQB: You have a pretty good attitude about a job destined for someone else.

Kitna: I will never, ever complain about this opportunity and this life in football.

I respect Merril Hoge, the ESPN talkmeister, a lot, and he told me a couple of times last year how well Kitna was playing. I'm not quite as high on Kitna; I think he makes mistakes by forcing too many throws at crucial times. But you can't argue with this stat: In his last eight games last season, he threw 15 touchdowns and nine picks. And how can you have a better attitude than he does? The guy can be my No. 2 QB anytime.

Donovan McNabb's mother, Wilma, is a registered nurse.

In June, McNabb married Raquel Nurse.

Good to have the letters back. I had a tough time eliminating some of the better ones this week, particularly those about my recent TV discovery, Trading Spaces, and I appreciate the thought you've all put into your weekly missives.

YOU GO, GIRL. From Tiffany Fugére of Austin, Texas: "Just finished reading the last two MMQBs. As a woman who has followed football for the last 22 years [since the age of 8], I can guarantee you that the majority of women who watch football have absolutely no interest in seeing a woman sportscaster. Women who follow football, and follow football for football and not just football for the sake of their relationship with a football fan, could care less about seeing a woman on the TV -- especially a hottie like Lisa Guerrero. I'd even venture to say that it's going to be especially annoying to see her."

I'm glad you wrote, Tiffany. I bet there are a lot of women out there who feel the same way. Lisa Guerrero should not be criticized for being beautiful, and that's not my point at all. But for ABC to say it hired her to appeal to the female viewers out there is a gratuitous insult to women who watch the games.

BUT I MUST WARN YOU: THE AUTHOR OF THIS COLUMN IS A DOLT WHEN IT COMES TO NFL HANDICAPPING. From Tom Vasich of Costa Mesa, Calif.: "I'm trying to handicap the AFC this year, and it's driving me crazy because the potential parity is unbelievable. I figure 12 of the 16 teams have a shot at the playoffs, and no one team seems dominant. The AFC West and East are as evenly matched as I've ever seen. Help! What teams stand out here?"

Well, I need to visit a few more camps before I tell you anything of great substance, but here are three AFC things I think:

1. I think Pittsburgh will win homefield advantage in the playoffs. The Steelers have a good team with a great pass rush and great passing game, and they're in the easiest division of any of the contenders.

2. I think I really like Buffalo a lot. I'm thinking seriously of picking the Bills to win the East.

3. I think everyone's putting Oakland out to pasture a little too soon. Denver still has to prove it can scare someone on defense.

JAKE'S THE MAN. From Pedro of Charlotte, N.C.: "You never beat around the bush and you tell it like it is for football fans. Keep up the great work. Who is your favorite to be the long-term quarterback for the Panthers?"

Thanks. Jake Delhomme. It's no contest.

PLEASE RECONSIDER YOUR SLIGHT OF MARCUS ALLEN. From Mike Mowla of Fairfield, Conn.: "You say there's no way Marcus Allen was as good a player as Barry Sanders or Jim Brown or O.J. Simpson. Did you consider that Allen did not get the same opportunities as those backs? When Allen had the proper number of attempts, which I believe occurred in 1985, he rushed for more than 1,700 yards and averaged 4.6 yards per attempt. His performance when he had the opportunity should make you wonder what could have been."

I can't make judgments on a player based on stats you think he might have accumulated had he been given more chances. The sporting road is littered with guys who think they got jobbed, or who actually did get jobbed. I say, so what? The stats are what they are. Allen is the back that he was. I'm not saying he isn't a Hall of Famer; I willingly and unquestionably voted for him for to be enshrined. But I think anyone who looks at the game dispassionately and says Allen is the second-best back of all time is extremely misguided. Take off your Raiders hat for a minute and ask yourself if, in his prime, you'd really take Allen over Brown. If you would, I strongly suggest you watch ESPN Classic some time when it shows some Brown footage. And I suggest you ask any football fan over the age of the 50 if Allen belongs on the same field -- and in the same debate -- with Brown. To mention Allen in the same breath as Brown is ludicrous.

A GREAT QUESTION FROM WEST VIRGINIA. Joe Estanich of Bridgeport, W.Va., writes: "Put yourself in Dan Snyder's shoes. You have to choose between keeping Pro Bowl corner Champ Bailey, or Pro Bowl linebacker LaVar Arrington. Salary Cap management is perhaps going to prohibit you from keeping both. Whom do you choose? Personally, I keep Bailey. A true, shutdown cover corner, who can essentially cut off one side of the field, I think, is somewhat rarer than an All-Pro stud LB. Your thoughts?"

Joe, I'm glad I have another season to make that judgment, because it'd be a really tough call right now. I don't think either of them had a great season in 2002. I thought Fred Smoot had a better coverage year than Bailey, and I thought Arrington freelanced too much at the expense of the team defense. Let's see how they play this season before we decide. If I had to pick one now, I'd pick Bailey, because you're right: A better-than-average corner, especially a young one, is a more valuable than a better-than-average linebacker whose commitment to team play is under question.

EMMITT DID THE COWBOYS A MOTIVATIONAL FAVOR. From Sohn Enis of Little Rock, Ark.: "Regarding Emmitt and his comments in your Aug. 4 Sports Illustrated article, it really sounds like sour grapes and his explanation a few days later just doesn't add up. A Cowboys beat writer correctly pointed out last week that Emmitt's whining and posturing last year was one of the team's biggest distractions, in spite of the good vibes that came when he broke the all-time rushing record. I think all Emmitt did in his interview with you was fire up a much-improved Dallas defense for the Cards-Cowboys matchup in early October."

Interesting you say that. Last week I visited Cowboys camp for the second time this summer, and you know, that's the feeling I got too. I think the Dallas players are all keeping quiet shutting up and making nice and saying all the right things, such as "Aw, Emmitt didn't mean it." And when the Cowboys play the Cardinals in October, I think the Dallas defense will be out for Emmitt's blood. I think the Cowboys feel insulted by Smith's slight, despite what they say now.

DON'T BE NAIVE, PETER. From Craig Hansen, of Provo, Utah: "I think it's pretty obvious why referees aren't allowed to gamble. Gambling can become a serious personal problem and once it becomes an addiction, the temptation to bet on something you can influence the outcome of might be too much to resist."

You could be right, Craig. But you don't give intelligent men much credit. If gambling were not outlawed, what percent of officials would go to Vegas once or twice a year? Ten? Fifteen? And do you think it's logical to think that one of those guys would get so in debt that he'd have to gamble on a football game, then fix the game, to make money for his mortgage? I must be naive. I don't see it being that much of a danger.

I have two this week.

1. In one of the strangest training camp events of my life, I autographed a plush white bath towel last Wednesday.

I was on the sidelines of the Dallas Cowboys practice field, in the Alamodome, when a fan recognized me and asked me to sign a Cowboys roster. I did. A guy a few seats away, a Floyd Jefferson of Houston, asked me for an autograph too. He then pulled a perfectly good white bath towel from his lap, handed me a Sharpie, and asked me to sign.

"You want me to sign a towel?" I asked.

"Yeah,"' said Floyd Jefferson, a husky guy, maybe about 25. "Sign anywhere."

"My wife would kill me for this! It's a perfectly good bath towel," I said, but I wrote "Peter King, Sports Ill." It took a while, because you have to write slowly for the Sharpie to be read on a plush white bath towel.

"Hey, write about this in Sports Illustrated," Floyd Jefferson said.

I told Floyd Jefferson he could star on SI.com, but I didn't think he would make the magazine itself this week.

I'm dying to know what Floyd Jefferson will do with that towel.

2. Flying from Newark to Phoenix for the Cowboys-Cardinals, I was stunned, halfway through the flight, to hear the 60ish woman seated next to me break into song at a decibel level louder than a hum. "You are everything, and everything is you ... oh-oh you are everything and everything is you ..." And when she got to the end, you know the part of the song when The Stylistics howl a bit, the 60ish woman went for it. "Ohhhhhhhhhhaaaahhhhhhhhhhh everything is you!"

You know how when people sing with headphones on, and they think they're keeping tune perfectly, but really they're such an abomination you wish you were anyplace but right next to them? This was one of those times.

1. I think Duce Staley's holdout in Philadelphia is one of the dumbest ones I've ever seen. He wants to know where he stands with the team long-term entering the final year of his contract. I'll tell you where you stand, Duce: very close to losing your job to Correll Buckhalter even if you have a great camp and strong start to the season. Buckhalter is the back of the future in Philadelphia, not you. You're due $2.2 million this year, which the Eagles are willing to pay -- unless you continue this harebrained scheme of a holdout. If so, they'll whack you. You'll be on the street. And you'll sign with someone for something near $600,000, probably as an insurance policy. So here are your options:

a. You can report to the a Super Bowl contender right now and either win the starting job or play significant minutes, while making one of the league's top 10 salaries for a running back;

b. You can hold out for a couple more weeks, ruin any chance you have to start, and be a miserable backup -- and a misguided one entering your walk year;

c. You can hold out until the Eagles cut you, then sign with someone else and make more than $1 million less, and almost certainly have a much smaller chance to get to the Super Bowl.

Your move.

2. I think the Jacksonville heat thing, with three of their players going down in camp, has to have something to do with the condition of the players. I know the Jags' trainer, Mike Ryan, and he's about as vigilant a trainer as there is in football. I'm sure the Jags are doing what most teams do now as a matter of course: Players weigh in before the morning and afternoon practices. If their weight before the afternoon is off more than a pound or two from their morning weight, they must drink to drink fluids to replace that weight before going out onto the field. Common sense. The real heat problems come from dehydration, not from the heat ... and from players not being fit enough when they arrive at training camp. These days, you can't use camp to get in shape. It's too hard. Too many guys are too far ahead of you at the start.

3. I think it's not necessarily a mistake to bring in Andre Rison for a look, even though he has been away from NFL combat for three years. But I will remind teams that he's not the most responsible of wide receivers. Great story: Rison signed with Green Bay as a free agent in its Super Bowl-winning year after being with Jacksonville that season. He played the stretch run with the Packers, then the playoffs, then returned with the team to Green Bay after the Super Bowl. In the locker room two days after the game, Rison was cleaning out his locker when players heard him shout out a surprised expletive. What happened? Turns out Rison had found three checks he thought he'd lost from Jacksonville. Three paychecks, actually. Worth $100,000 apiece.

4. I think it hit home this week how stupidly inequitable Major League Baseball is and how lucky the NFL is to have its salary cap when I saw an Associated Press chart with all the major league team salary totals. The Yankees are spending $180 million on their major league roster, 52 percent more than any other team in baseball. Imagine the Steinbrenner of football -- let's say for the sake of argument it's Dan Snyder, though I could think of a couple of other guys who might throw money at players desperately these days -- trying to win at all costs. Would Snyder have stopped at Laveranues Coles and Chad Morton and Randy Thomas? Nope. He'd have trumped the Patriots for Roosevelt Colvin and Rodney Harrison, outbid the Dolphins for Junior Seau and paid through the nose for pedestrian players like Dave Wohlabaugh. Imagine one team with a runaway salary train like that. Football wouldn't be as competitive, and it certainly wouldn't be as fun, and it probably would mean the end of the Green Bay Packers in a matter of years. I don't see how the Packers could compete in a free market with no restriction on salaries over the long haul, unless Bill Gates or Warren Buffett bought them.

5. I think I'm getting a little tired of Emmitt Smith reversing fields to cover his own rear end regarding his comments to me in SI. And, quite frankly, I'm starting to lose some respect for a guy I've always liked. I quoted Smith in the magazine last week as saying when he broke Walter Payton's all-time rushing record last year, it was "the worst year I ever went through in football ... It felt like being a diamond surrounded by trash." First he said he didn't mean that he was the diamond and his teammates the trash (which is unquestionably the way I feel Smith made the comment to me), but rather the season was trash and the organization was a diamond. Then he issued a public apology for making the statements. Then, on Saturday night after the game, instead of simply burying the issue and moving on, he buried me, accusing me of having an agenda and simply using the quotes that were convient for me to use in order to carry out my agenda. "If you've got your mind and heart set on writing a story one way, it will come out that way," Smith said. "All you need is a couple of quotes to plug in what you need to plug in to represent your story ... Somehow or other, then it appears the player might have stated that." Then he said he thought we had a "wonderful interview. The end result was totally different than I thought it was." I would like some rebuttal time. Here is my rebuttal: Huh? My agenda going in was to delve into how Smith was trying to buck the trend of older backs flopping with new teams, which I did get into. But he threw me a detour by being so strident in his feelings about the Cowboys. In my business, you adjust on the fly, which is what I did. I'm amazed he doesn't see that.

6. I think these are my non-football thoughts of the week:

a. Coffeenerdness: Jake's Coffee house, which you see in some airports and probably think is quasi-Starbucks, is most definitely not close in quality. I found that out the hard way in Terminal 2 of the Phoenix airport Sunday. Terminal 2 is Starbucks-free. Jake's performed quite a feat. It served a latte with no foam whatsoever.

b. If you want to read a great feel-good story among all the bad-news things we're reading these days, check out the New York Times Web site, and go back to last Thursday's paper, and read Mets beat man Rafael Hermoso's extraordinary piece about lifetime minor-leaguer Joe DePastino's promotion to the majors last week. Heartwarming

c. Re: the Armando Benitez trade and his subsequent return to Yankees Stadium for a weekend series with the Mariners: Has it ever happened that a player dressed in the visitors' clubhouse at Yankee Stadium in June, the home clubhouse in July, and the visitors' in August?

d. God bless Apple Computers for the three-hour battery on its iBook. There's nothing like finishing the Pittsburgh and Cincinnati stories for the SI NFL preview issue over West Virginia and New Mexico, respectively, on the way to Phoenix.

e. Give Stephen King's column in Entertainment Weekly a read. Interesting dude.

7a. I think, sometimes, how nice it would be if the man who may one day be the best Giants' tight end of all time, Jeremy Shockey, would borrow a couple of conservative genes from the best Giants' tight end of all time, Mark Bavaro.

b. Perhaps, too, Shockey could borrow a calculator from somewhere in the Giants' offices. He is quoted in an upcoming Maxim magazine article as saying he fantasizes about a threesome with a mother and her twin daughters. Is it just me, or does that not quite add up? In many ways.

8. I think Jeff Garcia might want to take his time returning from his back injury. His two backups, Tim Rattay and Brandon Doman, went 19 of 21 Saturday night in Kansas City. Seems like only yesterday when I was buying Steve Mariucci's sales job on Giovanni Carmazzi.

9. I think these are my weekend preseason-game thoughts:

a. Advantage, Kelly Holcomb.

b. From the highlights, it was hard to tell the difference between Tim Couch and Nate Hybl.

c. I'm hearing really, really good things about Andre Johnson in Houston.

d. I saw really, really good things out of Dan Klecko in New England the other night -- 2.5 sacks, constant pressure.

e. No bridge-jumping yet, Big Blue fans, but if the Giants are as sickly this weekend as they were Thursday night, I would at least get the panic button out so you could keep it close to the TV.

f. How about Redskins refugees Stephen Davis and Skip Hicks combining for 104 yards for Carolina against Washington?

g. And Laveranues Coles catching one ball?

h. Wish I'd taken LaBrandon Toefield (and not just for the ability, for the name) in our fantasy draft last spring. Looks like Jack Del Rio will give him plenty of chances (he had eight for 33 yards Saturday in Minnesota) if Fred Taylor falters.

i. Ditto Onterrio Smith in Minnesota. He looks like Michael Bennett's replacement.

10. I think you all must be glad I didn't take up more than a few lines wasting away in Shockeyville.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King covers the NFL beat for the magazine and is a regular contributor to SI.com. Monday Morning Quarterback appears in this space every week. Click here to send him a comment.

 

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