Charles Barkley was on the Dan Patrick Radio Show a couple weeks back, discussing the McNabb bashing article written by the president of the Philadelphia branch of the NAACP. In the discussion, Barkely said:

The biggest problem with black people is black people.

Barkley’s message (which I happen to agree with) was loud and clear: until we can get our own house in order, we’re going to continue to be our own worst enemy. Barkley was talking specifically about the comments made by J. Whyatt Mondesire, president of the Philadelphia branch of the NAACP, but he could have just as easily been talking about comments made yesterday by ESPN’s Scoop Jackson.

Scoop’s latest column on ESPN.com is titled “What Mattered Most In 2005″, but it just as easily could have been titled, “I’m Black, Angry, And White Folks Are To Blame.”

Reading the article really disappointed me. One of the things I love about sports is that sports transcend race. In sports, race isn’t an issue, unless some media idiot decides to make it an issue. This is why I love the NFL so much: race doesn’t matter.

It used to matter. It used to be that there were no black quarterbacks or black head coaches. But that’s changed. Tony Dungy reshaped the perennial losers in Tampa Bay into Super Bowl winners. He’s done a marvelous job with the Indianapolis Colts. He’s a soft-spoken, respected man. Not black man, but man. Tony Dungy transcends race.

Same goes for Marvin Lewis (Cincinnati Bengals) and Lovie Smith (Chicago Bears). Their two teams have suffered losing seasons for nearly the past two decades, and yet both head coaches, who are black, have reshaped those teams into winners. Cincinnati is poised to reach the playoffs for the first time since 1990, and Chicago was figured to be .500 at best, but intead they lead the league in defense and have locked up the #2 seed in the NFC.

And quarterbacks… Donovon McNabb is the classiest guy in the NFL, has lead his team to five consecutive NFC championships and a Super Bowl. The fact that he’s black is an afterthought to most fans like me. Same goes for guys like Culpepper, Leftwich, Brooks and Vick. We don’t think of them as black quarterbacks, we think of them as good or bad quarterbacks. The color of their skin has become irrelevant.

But guys like Rush Limbaugh (who got booted from ESPN’s pre-game show last season for making race an issue with McNabb) and Scoop Jackson just can’t help themselves. Apparently they can’t let go and move forward. Apparently they prefer to live in a world where race is still an issue.

Read Scoop’s column and it’s apparent that he has as much of a problem with race as Limbaugh does. His comments about Lee Richardson and James Dungy are totally revealing, as when he says:

Both young, gifted and black men. Both had futures that they will not see.

Black men. Not just young, giften men. But black men. He has to point that out, to make it an issue, and at the same time diminish and degrade them. By making their race the most important part about them, Scoop completely trivializes their lives, personalities, and potential. Their tragic deaths instead become an opportunity for Scoop to make race an issue. It’s disgusting.

But Scoop doesn’t stop there. He also takes a pot shot at the NBA. When talking about the age limit the NBA imposed (minimum age of 19 required to enter the league) and the dress code, Scoop says this about those two rules:

Both had racial overtones in them, regardless of what The League has to say.

A dress code has a racial overtone? I don’t have to tread over that ground again; every radio talk show in America covered it when it happened, and the consensus was that anyone saying race was an issue wasn’t in touch with reality. Same with the age limit. There’s no racism there. That’s a business decision. As was the dress code. It’s about money, Scoop. Not race.

But the one that got me above all else in the column is when Scoop takes aim at Charlie Weis and the University of Notre Dame, criticizing the University for giving Weis a 10-year extension before this season was over, when former head coach Ty Willingham (who is black) had a better record during his first year at Notre Dame. Scoop says:

So when the University of Notre Dame extended Charlie Weis’ contract to secure his services for 10 years just months after firing a coach who only three years ago was in the same situation with a better record (8-0 after the first eight games for Willingham, 5-2 for Weis at the time of his extension) during his first year, the validation of racism that so many people tossed at the university’s feet in the wake of excusing Willingham last December was totally eclipsed by an arrogance unseen in the NCAA since Adolph Rupp and Bear Bryant thought “negroes” couldn’t ball.

And although ND athletic director Kevin White is the man in charge, it’s not about his making the decisions as much as it is about the institution putting on display a serious complex of superiority. Oh, don’t get me wrong, their actions are racist to the core. But their arrogance spoke much louder in this case.

The italics is mine. The absurdity is all Scoop’s.

To say what Scoop says shows a complete lack of understanding of the situation. Tyron Willingham’s teams weren’t great teams. Charlie Weis transformed Notre Dame in his first season. He has three Super Bowl rings, and is a guru of offensive X’s and O’s. He transformed Brady Quinn into a now-draftable NFL quarterback. His Irish gave USC, they of the two National Championships and an unblemished record, the toughest game of the year, losing at the last minute 34-31. Willingham’s teams vs. USC? They lost 41-10 (2004), 45-14 (2003), and 44-13 (2002). On top of all of that, Weis was going to be openly recruited by several NFL teams to be their head coach. Notre Dame did the prudent and smart thing by giving him a contract extension to lock Weis up for the foreseeable future.

And Scoop Jackson thinks Notre Dame is racist and arrogant.

The only arrogant racist here is Scoop.

It’s almost 2006. It’s time to move forward, as a human race, not as a race of blacks/whites/latinos/asians. Sports is the one place where this can (and is) happening. Barriers are broken first in sports. Race matters less and less every day, because only one thing matters in sports: production. Winning. Race becomes irrelevant.

Except when folks like Scoop make it an issue.

Well, it’s time to stop letting folks like Scoop make it an issue. ESPN fired Limbaugh for his insensitive comments about race and McNabb. Maybe they should do the same thing with Scoop. Want to be an angry black man? Do it on your own time.

I hope this is the last post I feel compelled to make about racism in sports. I’m really tired of this being an issue. I don’t care what color a person is. Just play, coach, or do whatever you do, and do it with class and dignity. If more people in this world were like Tony Dungy, and fewer of them were like Scoop Jackson, race wouldn’t be an issue anymore.

Wow, can you believe it? Seattle sits at 13-2 and has locked up homefield advantage throughout the playoffs. I never thought I’d live to see the day.

But what’s more amazing is that ESPN.com’s Michael Smith goes out on a limb today and declares the ‘Hawks the Best Team In The NFL. Seahawks fans, we can officially shut up about the lack of respect.

I’ve been a subscriber to PC Gamer magazine since their very first issue (actually before then, when it was called PC Entertainment). It’s been in circulation for over a decade, and a large reason I’ve been a subscriber is because they have always been incredibly accurate and honest in their reviews. They have saved me from wasting money on countless horrible games, by dishing out scathing reviews to undeserving titles. On a couple of rare occasions I’ve bought games that PC gamer rated poorly, and I’ve always regretted it.

Until now.

PC Gamer gave this year’s version, Madden 2006, a 67% final score. That mark is completely inaccurate. William “Tank” Harms, the author of the review, apparently doesn’t play much Madden, otherwise his review would have been very different.

Unlike Mr. Harms, I’ve logged a couple hundred hours with the previous version of Madden (2005). After an entire fall with Madden 2006 I can honestly say it’s head and shoulders above the 2005 version.

Harms spends most of his column complaining about two new features in Madden 2006: the QB Vision Control and the NFL Superstar mode. He correctly describes those features as adding “absolutely nothing to the experience.” He’s right in that respect. The QB Vision Control can be turned off in the configuration settings, which basically negates its importance as a new feature to the game. Same goes for the Superstar feature - you can play entire franchise seasons and never touch it. It’s pointless. Problem is, that’s basically the whole review, which completely skips over the most important changes to the game that any serious Madden fan would discover after only a few games of play.

Harms then goes on to suggest that fans of Madden 2005 should skip the 2006 version and just get a roster update for 2005. I followed this lame advice initially. But something inside me couldn’t resist trying Madden 2006… I wanted to see if the developers had fixed some of the glaring issues with 2005. Turns out than they did, and PC Gamer completely missed it.

The first thing that 2006 has that its predicessor does not are Smart Routes. This is probably the biggest enhancement to 2006, and it’s worth every penny. If you listen to John Madden on television you know that he has a real beef with players running routes short of the 1st down marker on a 3rd down play. If the team needs 8 yards for the first down, the receiver runs a 5 yard route and gets tackled. Madden has bitched about this for years on television, so it was rather ironic that this problem manifested itself in his own video game.

Well, now it’s fixed. If your receiver is running a designed 5-yard route on 3rd down and long, you can audible and tell that receiver to run his route to the depth of the 1st down marker. It’s a “smart route”, and it adds a completely new dimension to the offensive side of the ball.

The second key thing that has been improved is the use of pulling offensive linement on running plays, and in fact the running game as whole. In Madden 2005, pulling an offensive linemen on a running play is a pointless maneuver that results in the lineman not blocking correctly and the runningback getting tackled in the backfield. Fortunately, the developers have fixed it in the 2006 version, and pulling an offensive linemen actually works now. Running plays in Madden 2006 look a lot more like their real life NFL counterparts, and are executed much better. Overall the entire running game feels revamped compared to 2005. Holes open up better with offensive linemen trying to pin their blockers away from the lane, and they sustain their blocks better than in 2005. It all adds up to a much improved running experience.

Speaking of the running game, the AI also benefits, and finally has a running attack as well. In Madden 2005 it was not uncommon for me to finish a game and hold the opposition to 25 total yards rushing, even on All-Madden mode. In 2006, however, the AI can actually run, and run well. I play most of my 2006 games on All-Pro (another positive change for 2006; the All-Pro mode is actually somewhat challening) and the AI often finishes with anywhere from 70-100 yards per game, sometimes even breaking some big plays. The change makes it a lot more challenging to play defense now, trying to figure out if the play is a run or pass, and if you should risk sending the strong side safety down into the “box” to help on run support.

Which brings me to another small, but positive change: the strong safety. In 2005 you could adjust the safeties to play up “in the box” for blitzing or run support, but doing so caused both safeties to crowd the line of scrimmage. This has been changed in 2006, and now the strong side safety crowds the line while the free safety plays deep center, as he should. This simulates real NFL defense much closer, and it also makes all of those “Cover 1″ defenses much more useful. Unfortunately, I haven’t found a way to reverse the play so that the free safety can crowd the line and the strong safety plays off, but the fact that it works one way is a lot better than how 2005 handled it.

The list of improvements doesn’t stop though. Back to the offensive side of the ball; you can now slide protection on passing plays by calling a blocking audible at the line of scrimmage. This is actually a necessary tactic in 2006, as the defensive line will often try and overload to one side in order to put pressure on your quarterback with a rushing defensive end. To counter, you can now instruct your offensive line to slide their protection left, right, wide, or bunch up the middle. The latter instruction is particularly useful when using empty backfield sets and you’re trying to get rid of the ball quickly against a 6 or 7-man blitz. In the real NFL they teach the offense to protect agains the middle first on overload blitzes because the quickest path to the QB is the shortest path. Forcing the blitzers to go around the edges buys the quarterback fractions of seconds to get the pass off, and now that part of the NFL is in Madden 2006.

Another improvement, and probably my favorite, is the enhancement of the in route. In the NFL the “in route” is one of the most used, most viable mid-ranged passing routes. The St. Louis Rams and their “Greatest Show On Turf” passing offense is predicated largely on the use of the “in route”. Every team runs it, and as long as the offensive line pass protects and the receiver runs it correctly, it’s an open route. Unfortunately, in Madden 2005, throwing to an “in route” is suicide, resulting in an interception every time because the defenders were programmed with unrealistic reaction abilities.

Well, that’s fixed in 2006. Now, receivers run “in routes” correctly, but more importantly the defenders don’t jump them with supernatural powers. So the “in route” in Madden 2006 works like it does in the NFL, and is largely predicated on whether the offensive line can block long enough for the route to develop. The impact of this change is huge - it opens up a whole slew of plays in the playbook that I’ve had to previously ignore because “in routes” were broken.

“Out routes”, on the other hand, were made much more difficult to complete, which also meshes correctly with the NFL. In the NFL the “out route”, or sideline route, is one of the most difficult throws for a quarterback to make. It is a route that differentiates quarterbacks with strong arms from quarterbacks with weak arms. It’s the route where, when it gets intercepted, the defender goes the distance for a touchdown because there are no offensive players in the way to tackle him. In Madden 2005 the “out route” was money every time - a nearly guarenteed completion. Thankfully it’s been changed in 2006, and now simulates the real NFL much better. It’s a dangerous throw, but completing it can be very rewarding.

Those are the major changes to the mechanics of the game, and if you’ve logged as many hours as I have with Madden 2005, you’ll know that those changes immediately make Madden 2006 the better game. It’s more playable, more accurate, more true to life.

There’s some fluff things that were added as well. For instance, a Drive Chart now appears at the end of every successful scoring drive, graphically depicting the passing and running plays, showing how the drive worked. It’s not anything that is necessary to the gameplay, but it does make the game more enjoyable. Also, the receivers now turn their heads and “track” the ball on long pass plays. This is a really great graphical improvement to the game that makes it feel more realistic.

Of course, the game is still far from perfect; some issues still linger from previous versions. Even with the configuration sliders set to maximum, there are still too few penalties called. And while injuries seem to mount at NFL pace when games are simulated, they are almost nonexistent when you’re actually playing the game. I played through an entire season with four different teams: Seattle, Miami, Pittsburgh and Dallas, and I only had one injury during a game that caused the player to miss the next week’s game. It’s still almost impossible to complete long passes downfield on post routes and flys because the defensive backs still make that superhuman swat (which, by the way, no NFL defensive back has ever made when trailing a wide receiver by a yard or more), and leading your receiver requires an act of God to make happen correctly. Also, the “screen pass” is still something that EA hasn’t figured out how to implement correctly (the receiver runs into traffic and gets tackled), and the same goes for the flare to the runningback out of the backfield (the back runs the pattern at full speed, which is too fast, thus preventing the QB from getting a look downfield before resorting to the “checkdown”).

But overall, Madden 2006 gets it right. While PC Gamer might like to focus on the “big changes” that are pointless, the real meat and potatos of the game is where the biggest improvements were made. The gameplay is what counts, and that appears to be where EA focusd their development efforts this time around. Smart Routes, sliding pass protection, pulling guards that actually block correctly, in routes that are actually viable… It all adds up to a much more fun and accurate version of the NFL.

If you’re stuck playing Madden 2005 and you have heard that Madden 2006 isn’t much of an improvement, then you owe it to yourself to pick it up and try it. It’s a better game, hands down. This is the one time when PC Gamer got it wrong.

My final score: 89%*

* PC Gamer has a rating system of 0% - 100%. Anything scoring an 88% or higher is considered to be an Editor’s Choice; the best of the best. I think Madden 2006 is the best Madden yet.

Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year. I love the spirit of it; giving presents, cooking (and eating) good food, getting family together to share stories of the past year, putting up the Christmas tree and decorating it with all the ornaments that have sentimental value, telling my kid about Santa Claus… Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside (that could also be the Tom and Jerry).

What bugs me about Christmas though is what has happened to it this year. It’s become a victim of religous zeal and political correctness, neither of which have anything to do with my Christmas.

You see, I’m not Christian. I don’t believe in the existence God, or the divinity of his sidekick, Jesus. I’m an Atheist who believes in Intelligent Design (wrap your head around that idea for a moment - I believe in a supreme being that created the universe, I just happen to think he’s currently dead. I mean, he/she/it created the universe… Don’t you think that took some effort, and might have required every ounce of personal Godly power to make happen?)

So, Christmas to me has nothing really to do with Jesus or God. It has everything to do with Santa Claus, Rudolph, Charlie Brown, a tree, lights, ornaments, snowmen, food, family, presents, bygones, and love. Oh, and football.

All of that presents me with a unique dillemma, because I’m stuck in the middle of this stupid, political/religous debate. It isn’t “Happy Holidays” to me, it’s “Merry Christmas”. But if I speak up and say that, someone’s going to mistake me for a right-wing, Jesus-worshipping Christian, and that would be incorrect as well.

I don’t want someone telling me I can’t say Merry Christmas because it offends them in a religous way. Guess what? Christmas isn’t religous to me. Am I still in trouble if I tell you Merry Christmas? Do I have to augment it by saying, “Merry Pagan Christmas?”

It makes me wonder… How many more people in the world are like me? And would Christmas be better off if we held it on a day other than Jesus’s birthday?

Pro Bowl voting is one of those things I love and hate. I love it because I love seeing guys get rewarded for excellent seasons. I hate it because clueless fans with internet connections get to vote.

I wrote about this a couple days ago. At the time, Matt Hasselbeck was trailing in the QB voting for the NFC, in fourth place behind such turnover machines as Eli Manning and Michael Vick. Well, thank goodness the coaches and players got to vote, because they counterbalanced the idiocy of the masses (mostly), and Hasselbeck managed to get in as the #2 QB (behind Jake Delhomme who threw two fewer touchdowns than Matt, 6 more interceptions, and is ranked 8 spots behind Hasselbeck in efficiency rating).

Of course, Vick still made the Pro Bowl despite being the #27th ranked QB in the entire NFL, apparently because fans are so dumb that they eschew statistics and production for 5-second highlights on Sports Center. Go figure. I mean, check out Vick’s numbers thus far: he’s completing a pathetic 54% of his passes (placing him 29th out of 33 for NFL quarterbacks), he has as many interceptions (12) as touchdowns (13), and for a guy who is supposedly as mobile as a pinball, he’s amassed 26 sacks, enough to tie him for 23rd worse in the NFL.

It gets even more interesting. The two least-sacked quarterbacks in the league? Peyton Manning and Carson Palmer. That’s right. Two of the most immobile quarterbacks in the NFL also have the fewest sacks. Know why that is, Michael Vick? Because they’ve figured out how to pass the freaking ball to their teammates. Incidentally, that’s the quarterback’s job. Of course it’s difficult to do that when you’re running around in the backfield like a jackrabbit, getting sacked, or only completing half your pass attempts.

Someone call me when Vick learns how to be a quarterback at the NFL level. Oh yeah, and call me when all the Vick apologists (Colin Cowherd) quit making up excuses for him.

Congrats Mack Strong!

I don’t mean to rant about Vick, I just hate the amount of accolades that he manages to garner for doing such a piss-poor job of quarterbacking his team. But even though the Pro Bowl voting can be totally screwed up, at least this season someone finally got it right when it came to the fullback position, and they voted in Mack Strong.

For several years now that roster spot has belonged to Mike Allstott, mostly because, like Vick, he ends up with a few really great 5-second highlights on Sports Center, barrelling over linebackers on his way to a 1-yard touchdown. It’s neat mud-n-grits type football stuff, but it doesn’t mean much in the greater scheme of things.

This season it seemed like the folks calling the Seahawks games, whether it was Michaels and Madden on Monday night, or the Sunday crew on ESPN, or Ron Pitts and Tim Ryan (who did most of Seattles games for Fox) made a point to emphasize the job Mack Strong has done for Seattle this season, and in season’s past.

You see, a fullback’s job isn’t to run for 1-yard touchdowns. Not really. His real job is to blow holes open for the halfback, like Shaun Alexander. And no one has been better over the last decade than Mack Strong. Watching replays of Alexander’s great runs this season and you’ll see Strong knocking linebackers on their butt every single time. He’s always making a critical block, providing a gaping hole for Alexander to run through. Not only that, but he can catch the ball out of the backfield, run the draw, and he pass protects fiercly.

It’s about freaking time he got the nod to go to Hawaii. I’m excited for the guy. I hope he enjoys it. He is one of the last true fullbacks.