I'm Back!

I know we still have the Superbowl and the Probowl left, but I must officially be in offseason mode because I'm watching Mr. and Mrs. Smith and somehow enjoying it.

So I figured I'd end my three month hiatus from SoboFo and bring you some of my football thoughts that I'm sure you've been starved for.

1. I raised this question to the guys at work and think it's a good one for Sobo: Who is the worst owner - Dan Snyder or Peter Angelos? I'll start by admitting the answer seems glaringly obvious at first. The Skins are coming off an exciting season driven by emotion from the death of a hot young star not named Heath in which they made it to the postseason. They've been to the postseason twice in the past five seasons and have a jam-packed stadium each week. The team is competitive. However, I would argue that it is far, far more difficult to succeed in baseball than football. Making the playoffs twice in five seasons in the NFL is the equivalent achievement of Brad Pitt landing Angelina Jolie (seriously - give the movie a second shot if you haven't already. It's no Bedazzled, but hey what is?) Being competitive in baseball is hard enough even if you don't play in the AL East. That's more like Vince Vaughn landing Jennifer Aniston. OK, it happens, but let's be realistic - that was a down season for Jennifer. So when you balance out the leagues and prorate the teams' accomplishments this becomes a bit more of a fair fight. Many would argue that aside from the on-field success, Dan Snyder has helped turn the Skins into a Wall Street darling. I would counter that Angelos - as god-awful as he is - at least held MLB to the fire and got a monster of a deal when the Nats moved in. And again, it is much easier to make money in the NFL. But still, I'd give the nod to Snyder in the financial debate. My biggest argument is that the Skins' success is proof that Snyder is just as bad an owner. He finally gets them to be productive and respectable and then he tears them apart. The fact that he is ripping the guts out of the team right now, when the have a solid core and a promising future, is more of a crime than Angelos beating a dead horse by blocking the Bedard trade. Finally, I think it comes down to this - if you switch the teams they own, what happens? If you put Angelos on the Skins, your QB is ... I thought about this for a while and couldn't come up with a good example and this just hit me... it would be Kyle Boller. He would force the GM to trade out of the first round picks (which might not always be bad) and any pick that did sign would miss significant time while Angelos refused to negotiate. If Snyder owned the Orioles, they'd have signed A-Rod and traded for Pedro Martinez this offseason. I think the edge goes to Angelos being worse, but it's a close call.

2. The Ravens offseason! Gold medal. They fired Billick - Brilliant! They didn't get Jason Garrett - score! They hired Harbaugh - Excellent! They picked up Cam Cameron - gnarly! They kept Rex Ryan - perfect! I know some people are microanalyzing these moves and how they came about, but I don't care. I'm happy with the end product. Sure the owner seemed to take a larger presence than would be preferred. But I'm glad he was just smart enough to realize he made a mistake last year with Billick's extension and didn't have too much pride to admit it. Some say that keeping Rex Ryan is a mistake - that there will be too much tension between him and Harbaugh. Bollocks. These are professionals and grown men and they will work together to win.

3. Seahawks. Say what?! OK, well not the team, but a former Greenie. Jeramy Stevens to be precise. The man is a scumbag. Think about what that word really means for a minute. He's a scumbag. If you have a some time, read this article. Even if you think you got the point halfway through it, keep going. You have to read the whole thing to get the full effect.

4. The big game - my breakdown is coming soon. But more importantly - what will I cook? I'm thinking pulled pork bbq.