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Friday, December 21, 2007

Grumpy Old Men

As the Dolphins prepare to visit New England this weekend and as the Patriots prepare to eclipse the regular season perfect mark of 14-0, Shaughnessy dusts off the tired old tale of the grumpy/champagne-cork popping curmudgeons of the NFL's only perfect team, the 1972 Miami Dolphins.

The only freshness in an otherwise stale piece is the perspective of some of the ex-Dolphins on the Patriots (Seau and Evans) as they discuss how the streak is viewed in Miami. Also, he does discuss how Belichick has great respect for the 72 team and that he had dinner with Shula in the off-season.

In a typical Shaughnessy closing line convention, he concludes "But Belichick and the Patriots know that it's going to take 19-0 to overtake the '72 fish." Thanks for the insight.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

He also didn't fail to take the opportunity to take another gratuitous swipe at Schilling: 'Mercury Morris has been milking the unbeaten season for decades and this month made himself more available and obnoxious than Curt Schilling.'

Wish I had a column in a major newspaper to attack people I don't like with impunity.

Chris said...

Then there's this jewel: "Belichick knows more football history than the assembled talking heads of ESPN, HBO, CBS, and Fox..."

Is it just me, or is that list just slightly biased against the TV sports media hacks. It couldn't be that Belichick also 'knows more football history' than the assembled 'talking & typing heads' at, oh, I don't know...the Boston GLOBE?

We all know that the Globe comprises haughty elites who see themselves as, um, 'above the fray' shall we say. Mr. Shaughnessy, many of those aforementioned 'talking heads' you happily deride have, in past lives, strapped on shoulder pads and played the game. You, sir, are a worthless media hack and nothing more.

Monkeesfan said...

Biased against the TV sports-media hacks? Shank? Naaaaahhhhhh.

Give Shank credit for acknowledging that Belichick knows more football history than the assembled talking heads of TV, but he missed the opportunity to put the talking scribes in there as well.

BTW, anyone else notice Shank's subtle reference to a 1960s TV show about a swimming mammal? "The Patriots have a chance to vault past the '72 flippers this weekend at Gillette." Better cue the theme song for this game.

Shank mentions Dolphins radio announcer Jim Mandich - is he the one with the quote "you talk about a will to win" that is periodically played on NFL Films clips?

Shank even got in a Tuna reference - can't wait for his detailed analysis of Tuna's previous AFC/NFC East tenures and how he improved the teams he came to (without of course mentioning Tuna always chooses situations he knew are good), how well he's drafted, etc.

Monkeesfan said...

Heads-up - the 2007 Red Sox will be honored at halftime of the Dolphins game in Foxboro.

Shank, use that to launch another of your stock-footage columns about both teams; you can bash The Big Schill, Theo Moneyball, Larry "Don't Call Me Johnson" Lucchino, and company right from the comfort of Gillette Stadium.

Anonymous said...

You know, just when I think that maybe ol' Dan has been picked on enough, and I start to feel a little sorry for him, I read a column like this with COMPLETELY gratuitous shot at Schilling, and I change my mind.

What a pompous piece of shit, Shank is.

Tim

Monkeesfan said...

"Tiaina Baul Seau Jr. was 3 years old, living in American Samoa." "Bill Belichick was a sophmore at Wesleyan." "Rodney Harrison was born one day before Don Shula's Miami Dolphins beat the Baltimore Colts 16-0 to complete a perfect regular season."

Shank, you're slipping - you forgot to include that Drew Bledsoe was ten months old that cold December afternoon and that Chuck Fairbanks was less than two months away from signing onto the Patriots.

Chris said...

My little daughter has a silly thing where she holds her breath when we drive past a cemetery. Now I find myself doing it driving along Route 119 through Groton.

Monkeesfan said...

From the grumpy old men of the 1972 Miami Dolphins, Shank takes on the grumpy old men who vote for MLB's Hall of Fame.

Egads - a Shank piece about baseball without a gratuitous shot at Schilling?

Also, what will Shank say now that the NFL has arranged for CBS and NBC to simulcast the Patriots @ Giants game?

mike_b1 said...

The CHB is still pushing Jim Rice for the Hall, forgetting -- or not knowing -- that Tim Raines was a far, far better player.

Did you know Rice was "loved by his managers?" I doubt Jim Ed did.

At least this time around The CHB didn't plagiarize his previous columns.

Anonymous said...

1. "Tim Raines was a far, far better player" "Better" you might be able to argue with the use of contrived statistics; "far far better" is absurd.


2. "[P]lagiarize his previous columns." An absurd contradiction in terms.

mike_b1 said...

Ah, the kneejerk "hometown player is always better." So, so typical.

And wrong.

Raines Rice Avg
HoF LF
EqA .307 .294 .306
BRAR 882 634 806
BRAA 585 366 531
FRAA -21 -57 -2
WARP3 123.7 83.3 116.8
Peak 68.4 55.5 65.8
JAWS 96.1 69.4 91.3

Not only was Raines better, he was about 33% more valuable over the course of his career. Not. Even. Close.

"Self-plagiarism is the reuse of significant, identical, or nearly identical portions of one’s own work without acknowledging that one is doing so or without citing the original work." Which The CHB does regularly, I might add. (Not to mention that the Globe -- not The CHB -- owns The CHB's work for the paper.)

Wayne Turiansky said...

Well, Dan's not entirely useless. He posted his HOF ballot this morning and let us know that he's voted for Bert Blyleven.

Monkeesfan said...

BTW, has Shank mentioned the plane Mangini sent to Foxboro with an asterisk on the Patriots' record? Shank and company can kiss my asterisk, because 16-0 is here.