12/21/24
October 06, 2003
Barry or Dante: Pitch to Bonds with men on base or kick to Dante Hall? I keep asking this question but I see this weekend provided the answer. Jack McKeon had Bonds walked half his at bats and the Marlins moved on while Shanahan blew his undefeated season by kicking to Hall. Has Shanahan outlived his usefullness to the Rocky Mountain Way?
posted by billsaysthis to general at 01:54 PM - 8 comments
Dante Hall is astounding to me - what a gamebreaker - and even if they don't kick to him (which I would be surprised if anyone does after this weekend) he still changes the game without ever touching the ball. That said - Shanahan has his team at 4-1 with a new QB and a whole bunch old dudes and second-chancers. I'd say his job is pretty safe unless the Broncos go through 3 or 4 losses in a row. Wow - NFL looks like a coin-toss championship to me. Parity for you. I have a voice in the back of my head that keeps saying that Bonds will never win a Championship - karma, dude. If you play like an individual, act like an individual and treat your teammates as second bananas - you can have all the individual acolades you want - but you'll never get the team rewards. Just seems fitting, that's all.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 02:08 PM on October 06, 2003
The Shanahan comment was J/K, for the humor (or weed) impaired.
posted by billsaysthis at 02:23 PM on October 06, 2003
Well then - Be funnier, and I won't make the same mistake. HA!
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 02:37 PM on October 06, 2003
I was at a sports bar to see the games this weekend and I completely enjoyed the "Dante Hall" experience. Every time the Broncos kicked the ball the bar's communal attention turned to the Chiefs game. The whole bar was expecting a TD return. Simply amazing.
Just a thought about Dante Hall though. I think that Vermeil deserves some credit. Yes Hall is super but these "unknown player becomes astonishing player" stories seem to happen on Vermeil teams. First Az-hakim, now Hall. Think about it, Az-Hakim never did much before Vermeil and he hasn't done much after Vermeil either. Hall wasn't a well known draft pick. Vermeil must be doing something to put people in position to do what they do best and encouraging them. I was reading Pro Football Weekly's preview magazine and they didn't have Vermeil as one of the top 15 coachs. They had Butch Davis, but not Vermeil. Plain insane. I'd be curious to hear where people think Vermeil ranks among the coaches in the NFL?
posted by Mike McD at 04:19 PM on October 06, 2003
I think Vermeil is crucial to the success of the Chiefs. Dante Hall is a good example, but what about Priest Holmes? In Baltimore he showed flashes but was usually relegated to backup duty. He comes to KC and Vermeil works some fantasy magic. Here's a good article on the matter.
posted by lilnemo at 04:29 PM on October 06, 2003
Az-Hakim played pretty decent after Vermeil left. His big thing is, he cant be the number 1 receiver. He was the #2 or #3 reciever in St Louis and when they brought him here to Detroit, he kind of fizzled out. Some guys just arent #1 guys.
posted by Fluxcore at 06:35 PM on October 06, 2003
I have a voice in the back of my head that keeps saying that Bonds will never win a Championship - karma, dude. If you play like an individual, act like an individual and treat your teammates as second bananas - you can have all the individual acolades you want - but you'll never get the team rewards. Just seems fitting, that's all. Funny... I have a voice in the back of my head that says baseball is predicated on individual matchups, and that if the media writes unfavorably about you because you don't provide them with enough sound bites, you shouldn't give a shit.
posted by nath at 06:40 PM on October 07, 2003
Just a side note, but even though I have posted comments that include this question several times, I was not able to find them using my list of comments page or the SpoFi Search function.