One of my least favorite aspects of moving is dealing with our local cable company. Prompt isn’t in their vocabulary. I placed the call to have service transferred on Thursday. I was told they’d have a rep out to take care of it on Tuesday. That means no cable for the weekend. That means no football. No football to watch on my new 42” flattscreen. Yes, for the first time in probably 20 years, I was going to go an entire weekend without seeing a single snap. I did catch enough of the Redskins/Eagles game on radio to know that one of the subjects of this article was injured, but I don’t think I could tell you right now the final score of a single game. Thank God it’s the bye week.

Given that I have so much free time, however, I’ll use it as a chance to give some perspective on four controversial players, none of whom play for my team, and three of whom I’m glad don’t.

Reggie Bush. In terms of potential, it’s hard to imagine someone in recent history with more pure athletic potential. Bush belongs in the same elite class as Bo Jackson and Kordell Stewart–multifaceted players with what was perceived to be a near unlimited ceiling for growth. I use those two because, like Bush, neither of their careers panned out the way anybody foresaw.

It’s tough for me to speak ill of Jackson, my boyhood hero. His productivity was always on par with expectations. It was a single hit that damaged beyond repair perhaps the finest body the athletic world has ever seen.

Stewart, by contrast, is easier to criticize. Prior to his rookie year, a well-known shoemaker ran an ad featuring Stewart wherein he was asked to eschew his skills as a passer, runner, and receiver, and instead focus on being a punter. Nobody understood how vitally correct that commercial would be. Stewart elected to play quarterback, the position at which he was least able. He didn’t do poorly. He did a passable job (pun intended). He didn’t, however, play well enough to fend off the threat of Tommy Maddox, which, for as likable of a guy as Maddox may be, speaks volumes of where Stewart landed versus where the rest of the world thought he would land.

Stewart, in this regard, is a near perfect comparison for Bush. Bush never rode pine behind a player of as questionable skill as Tommy Maddox, but he never could beat out Deuce McAllister. Deuce was always a legitimate #1 back, but he was never elite. Bush, by his draft position and salary, was expected to be. He has yet to arrive.

It’s with this in mind that I question whether or not Bush should have been asked to return his Heisman Trophy. Were he what he was expected to be–the rare tailback that could achieve the level of stardom normally reserved for signal callers–would he have been asked to do so? We ask little of our greatest heroes, often to a fault (see my article The Pervasiveness of Permissivism). When our heroes have fallen, however, we do the opposite–we make unreasonable demands of them (for instance, asking Britney Spears, the impregnable bastion of teenage virtue, not to put on a few pounds post-pregnancy).

Bush, in my eyes, is exactly that–a fallen hero. He’s not a bust, but he has yet to come even remotely close to achieving his perceived potential. And, like Stewart before him, we may yet discover that his greatest talent is as a punter.

I don’t believe for a moment that that’s a good enough reason to expect him to return such an important prize.

Whether we as a society choose to acknowledge it or not, NCAA football is a professional sport. It is a for-profit endeavor. The only difference, in the words of Jamie Foxx as Willie Beamen in Any Given Sunday, is that “in the pros, the field hands get paid.” Only, as it turns out, sometimes some players do.

Consider what actually transpired. Bush, like hundreds, maybe thousands, of athletes before him, took money. While doing so was clearly a case of unbelievably poor judgment, ask yourself this: did that transaction do anything to affect Bush’s performance? No, it didn’t. Had that transaction not taken place, would Bush still be the winner of the Heisman Trophy? Yes, he would.

Had there been any ulterior motive attached to the payout, I would likely feel differently. I cannot, however, see clear to fault Reggie Bush for getting paid for nothing more than being Reggie Bush, and thus, I cannot see clear to believe that it was right for him to return the trophy, or even to be asked to do so. Bush is no saint, but he’s one of the greatest college athletes of his era, and deserves to be rewarded as such.

Now that I’ve relieved myself of that little bit, let’s move on. I promise the other three will be shorter than the first.

Michael Vick. I am, and always have been, a dog person (see opening narrative). I don’t feel for a moment that Vick’s punishment was severe enough. I understand the necessity from a legal standpoint for differentiating between animals and humans in terms of death and abuse. I have to. I’m a carnivore. Humans kill animals for food, and our treatment of those animals prior to death isn’t always all that humane. We also kill insects, arachnids, and rodents, sometimes as a means of preventing the spread of disease, but more often than not as a reactionary response to a mild to moderate annoyance. If we were allowed to kill our fellow man for similar reasons, well…. most of us would be dead. Still, I have a hard time convincing myself that the difference in sentencing between torturing and killing a pet and torturing and killing a person should be so radically different.

Having said that, Vick, by the standard set forth in his conviction, has paid his debt to society, and therefore I cannot see how the assertion can be made that he doesn’t deserve the job he has now. Were he operating a bucket and a mop at an IHOP, the present objection wouldn’t be levied. What people fail to take into account, however, is that, pay grade aside, playing quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles isn’t much better of a job. Come to think of it, the bucket and mop might actually be less thankless.

Besides, we still let Vince Neil sing, and he killed a man. Let Vick play football, and leave judgment to the man upstairs.

As a side note, out of deference to Donovan McNabb and Steve McNair, I propose we resume referring to him as Michael McVick.

Larry Johnson. Larry, you’re now officially as much of a tool on the field as you are off. I propose the latter as a permanent state of affairs. Na na na na….

Brett Favre. It’s good to see the old man back to form: throwing more interceptions than touchdowns. He’s still an explosive player, and he’s still a hell of a lot of fun to watch. I hope with every season that it won’t be his last. Unfortunately I think that next season I’ll run out of luck, but as long as he’s here, and as long as he’s one of the 32 best quarterbacks in the league, I’m going to enjoy having one last opportunity to see him do his thing. I suggest you do the same. If you get caught by your friends doing so, just tell them nK said it was okay. When that fails, just tell them you’re tuning in to watch Jared Allen.

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I’m about to take a very unpopular stance: Brett Favre may be the best thing in professional football right now. He’s a flawed but redemptive hero–a guy who acknowledges and atones for his failings, both as a player and as a human being. He’s a good front face for the company too–he’ll do everything from commercials to cameos in R-rated comedies to locker room renditions of week one American Idol tunes. To top it off, he’s still one of the sport’s best athletes–entering his 20th season, he’s a legitimate Pro Bowl candidate, and, in the eyes of his teammates, he’s still the missing link that can take a team from a playoff berth to a Super Bowl appearance.

Why, then, is his presence such a divisive element? Why is he so persistently derided by fans and press alike? The answer is simple: he’s not playing for your team.

Let’s face it: Vikings fans don’t dislike the guy. He spent the overwhelming majority of his career playing for their closest division rival, geographically speaking, but he still has their support. At most, they’re vaguely frustrated with him for his indecisiveness, but you won’t see even a significant minority calling for him to retire or be cut. That’s because they reviewed their options, and they didn’t find an Aaron Rodgers waiting in the wings. They found a questionable career backup and a Kyle Boller impersonator. Based on that, they decided they liked the future Hall of Famer with the rocket arm a little better.

If he was on your team, so would you.

If he was on my team, so would I. I scanned through the Chiefs’ roster earlier today. If, for some bizarre reason, Kansas City was a legitimate contender, and, if for some bizarre reason, Minnesota elected to cosmically repay Kansas City for giftwrapping them a future Hall of Famer two offseasons ago by trading another future Hall of Famer to play out the remainder of his career in Arrowhead, there are a grand total of three players whom I would not trade to make that deal happen: Brandon Flowers, Eric Berry, and Jamaal Charles.

The Vikings, by contrast, gave up nothing more than a few million extra dollars to entice him out of retirement. As with nearly everything else he does, Favre has been criticized for demanding more money, but the additional money still places his salary below those of many of his peers (Peyton Manning, for instance). Whether or not to seize the opportunity to hire a top 10 signal caller at or below market value isn’t really much of a question at all.

Every season I pick an NFC team to support alongside the Chiefs. I never choose the Cowboys for familial reasons, and I never choose the Rams because I don’t care much for the city of St. Louis. In recent years it has been the Giants, due in large part to my appreciation of Kareem McKenzie, whom I consider to be one of the most underrated players in the league. It’s been obvious, however, for the past few years that it’s time to pick a different pony. Kareem’s career is winding down, the front office is slowly dismantling the Super Bowl team of a few years ago, and I really don’t care about Eli Manning.

I like football games that are won in the trenches. Accordingly, guys like Steve Hutchinson and the Williams twins have made Minnesota a likable team for me for a while now. Jared Allen and a brief appearance by Tony Richardson didn’t hurt either. The NFL doesn’t thrive on fans like me though. They, as a business, thrive on the casual fan, and the average casual fan doesn’t care about the game in the trenches. The average casual fan won’t seek out a Pat Williams jersey. They’ll look for the skill position player whose story they like best. It’s hard to get excited about a team led by Tarvaris Jackson. Brett Favre? Easy. He’s the redemptive hero, engaged in battle with a former boss and a well-liked understudy. He’s the guy who helps us forget about the harsher realities of the game: steroid abuse, sexual deviancy, and an impending lockout that looks more and more likely every day.

And the guy can still play.

It’s a great story in an era that needs exactly that. Brett, unless my Chiefs are contenders, I hope you win it all. Here’s to a happy ending.

(And yes, I really am holding a beer right now.)

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In all but one of the previous games this season the Chiefs held the game close into the fourth quarter, only to find a way to lose. Against the hated Raiders, we watched as Matt Cassel threw two interceptions and Savage failed to get out of bounds as halftime ended the drive. When it counted, our defense made JaMarcus Russell look like JaMarcus Elway, as he drove the Raiders down the field in the fourth quarter to take a lead the Chiefs would not take back. We’ve seen multiple penalties and some confusing play calling. Just last week I had to cover my eyes as our second-year corner Maurice Leggett twice missed tackles and our veteran safety was not in a position to stop game changing – and game ending – pass plays.

Regardless of how it looked, the talented (and well paid) Redskins, along with coach Jim Zorn, were playing a must-win game. Perhaps, this past Sunday, our players learned the first rule of winning NFL games – “First, do no harm”. Against the ‘Skins, the Chiefs were penalized only four times, we had previously averaged more than seven. Kansas City did not turn the ball over while winning the time of possession by a large margin on the road. Further, we did it without the help of our starting left tackle.

This is not to say it we sat back and let the Redskins lose it. On perhaps the biggest non-Succop play of the day, Cassel passed to Bowe on a slant for a 32 yard gain with 1:47 left. An aggressive play call given the situation (and our prior history). If it fell incomplete, we would have given the Redskins more time to attempt the comeback that many expected. Instead, Bowe snagged the pass and headed down the sideline, eventually going out of bounds at the Washington 9 yard line. Of course, if he would have simply stayed in to keep the clock running, we would have been lining up in the victory formation. I don’t fault Bowe, how many times has he been in that situation before? It is a great example of how far we still have to go.

Today, the Chiefs made sure they controlled the final minutes, instead of putting the other team in a position to steal away our first win. Hali’s safety slammed the door shut instead of letting Washington’s best QB attempt a game winning drive. I believe today the Chiefs demonstrated significant, albeit small, progress. Frankly, I’ve waited the better part of a year for these young players to get out of their own way. It’s great to finally see it.

The tone has been doom and gloom as of late. I hear stories of Brian Waters not caring about his charity and Mike Vrabel not excited to be a Chief. I listen to everyone talk about how Devard Darling shouldn’t be running with the first team offense, and Jackie Battle playing at cornerback. We just can’t seem to grasp the simple fact that this team is being worked into the ground right now. Players are being held accountable. New schemes are being installed to fit the players we have, and some of these players are starting to sense this thing turning around.

Sure, Tony isn’t here anymore. I still have a hard time with it too. But have you noticed the small flatbed of receivers the Chiefs have to choose from this August? Do you know how well Zach Thomas has already taken to his role in the huddle on defense? Nobody speaks. Nobody.

We have a head coach that has no problem calling out a player when the occasion calls for it either. This week we heard about Brandon Albert reporting to OTAs 30 pounds overweight. We hear Dwayne Bowe has been taking it easy too. We have also heard about the 300 plus pounds this squad has already lost, and we’re seeing signs that this new quarterback Matt Cassel is really excited to be a Kansas City Chief right now. No Waters or Vrabel story is going to break my stride. I just laugh, and hope to encourage smiles. Now get your glass.

Bernard Pollard goes a mile a minute, folks. He’s also not afraid to knock the shorts off a running back. I never get mad when I see him overpursue on a play. I just think to myself, “I know why he did that.” This year he gets to play in the box, my friends! North and south. There is no doubt that Bernard Pollard is one of my favorite players on this Kansas City Chiefs roster. He has been since the day Herman drafted him out of Purdue. He had the nickname “The Bone Crusher”. I’ve always felt he lived up to that nickname. He’s a pure hitter. I never worry about him making the play. I just worry about him getting there too soon. I used to Youtube his highlight reels for my friends every time they came over for Sunday football. That was his rookie season. When Soren Petro asked him, “do you, or does somebody ever have to tell you, ‘Bernard…. slow down’?” Bernard’s response (laughing) was, “I get yelled at by Haley at every practice.”

Bernard Pollard has such a great opportunity this year in this new defense. He spoke about last season and how they never “got good at one thing” in the Cover Two. He’s done talking about it. He doesn’t want to go through 2009 again, and listening to him talk about this new defense gets this Koolaid drinker stocking the mini fridge with Jammers. I’m serious, I took a picture.

Bernard is calling 25 sacks this season, and 40 turnovers. Either somebody feels good about this defense, or they have been reading Barry’ s Koolaid. I didn’t even have this 2009 version with 40 turnovers. I had 38. I will, however, be happy to send a copy of this blog to his Facebook page. He can thank me later.

The Kansas City Chiefs are the greatest football team in all of the land, and no tough schedule is gonna change that. You can write that down.