Madden Madness : Wildcard Edition

Back by popular demand!

That's one of the great things about going to a game; you wear a shirt, and then at the end of the fourth quarter you can take that shirt off...

-Madden, on San Diego fans rallying their naked bellies on Saturday evening

On a side note, was it only Chicago Bears fans that stared aghast as Brett Favre sacrificed a potential scrambling first down to blindly lob the football into the end zone? True, the resulting catch (taken back by the rule about throwing from behind the line of scrimmage) was ridiculously phenomenal. There's a right to be dazzled. But, in purely practical sense... Green Bay's inability to pick-up that first down was the point at which it became clear the Packers wouldn't be able to catch the Vikings; it was, simply put, a first down / touchdown they needed to get to stay alive in the playoffs. And yet, announcers gushed like it was an exhibition game. Is Favre losing his edge simply because he is buying into the myth that he can do anything?

The same star-lust announcers who didn't express that stunning practicality were, however, vocally appalled and disgusted by Randy Moss's pantomine of mooning the Green Bay crowd. In fact, I had missed the visual and was so shocked by the response that I figured Moss had flipped off the crowd. And so, I am truly puzzled by news of what Moss actually did. Fine, Moss should be fined to prevent anything worse from happening; but, is there really a need for football columnists to spend a thousand words in their respective newspapers and websites telling us how distasteful and inappropriate the action was? I have a hard time imagining Green Bay fans being deeply hurt by the jest or fathers covering their children's eyes at home. I also have a hard time imagining a world where mooning is still considered a truly vulgar and offensive act, much less a pantomine of a mooning. Apparently, such a place exists, though, which is truly a sign that we are nearing the end of times.

(Incidentally, Tony Dungy pointed out that Moss's "moon" may have been a reference to Green Bay fans mooning the visiting player's bus.)