shaneo69
07-25-2006, 03:38 PM
DAWES: AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH
Jul 24, 2006, 8:53:33 AM by Rufus Dawes
It’s true that I am a natural skeptic about prophecies of doom from pundits and other so-called experts. And if some media buy into these prophecies and make them the subject of endless stories – as they did about dangers to the Ozone or the likelihood that Priest Holmes was finished three years ago – I am even more likely to turn my back on them.
But as the news broke that the Chiefs had signed the public’s obsession, Ty Law, I found myself non-moved and oddly complacent about what so many people believe it means.
The key pitchmen in this notion that the Super Bowl is now close at hand, or it could be, or it must be before some offensive lineman gathers any more gray hair have been a mix of local media and a fan base they have stoked repeatedly since last season. Although this doesn’t rise to the level of the global warming debate, talking about the Chiefs going to the Super Bowl when the team hasn’t won a playoff game since the conclusion of the 1993 season is laughably foolish. Head coach Herm Edwards said as much in his remarks following the introduction of Law to a contingent of local media.
“I think sometimes we just jump ahead too far,” he said, “We worry about Super Bowl’s, but you can’t win a Super Bowl unless you win your first games. That’s what this team needs to become. We need to become a consistent playoff football team.”
Nothing illustrates this proposition of putting the cart before the horse more clearly than this insistence that the team is just a player away. This is, however, more the media’s template than the team’s. In speaking before the gathering of media and broadcast on this Web site, Law made it abundantly clear from his perspective that he “can’t say that one person can be the savior for any football team.” Edwards, for his part, refused to acknowledge that “he’s the missing piece,” preferring to say that he thinks “he’s a very good player and that helps you.”
But for too many in the media there is no debate, not even a residual slick on the surface. The media have an allergy to the hard slog that building a team requires. They believe in the quick fix because it’s easy to write or talk about, especially if you can identify who this savior might be and it’s Law and it has been for some time in their minds.
I have been a ubiquitous analyst of unrestricted free agency – ubiquity being one of this writer’s favorite qualities — and identifying the latest free agent du jour and recognizing him as a savior doesn’t make it true.
A few years back Denver thought it had the final piece of the puzzle in Champ Bailey and the pundits echoed that here was the spark guaranteed to ignite the team’s drive to another Super Bowl championship.
Following this tangled logic please tell us that if a 26-year old Bailey, regarded as the best cornerback in the NFL, can’t make a difference for a team that’s alleged to be so close, how do you suppose a 32-year old corner can?
The Chiefs have made trips to the playoffs in a decade where only four NFL teams have not, so that should be any clear thinking person’s goal and a reasonable one to boot. But it sure won’t be a grizzled cornerback that shall lead them and besides, until they’ve gone and won a game there then his talk of a Super Bowl is more absurdity than reality.
http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2006/07/24/dawes_an_inconvenient_truth/
Jul 24, 2006, 8:53:33 AM by Rufus Dawes
It’s true that I am a natural skeptic about prophecies of doom from pundits and other so-called experts. And if some media buy into these prophecies and make them the subject of endless stories – as they did about dangers to the Ozone or the likelihood that Priest Holmes was finished three years ago – I am even more likely to turn my back on them.
But as the news broke that the Chiefs had signed the public’s obsession, Ty Law, I found myself non-moved and oddly complacent about what so many people believe it means.
The key pitchmen in this notion that the Super Bowl is now close at hand, or it could be, or it must be before some offensive lineman gathers any more gray hair have been a mix of local media and a fan base they have stoked repeatedly since last season. Although this doesn’t rise to the level of the global warming debate, talking about the Chiefs going to the Super Bowl when the team hasn’t won a playoff game since the conclusion of the 1993 season is laughably foolish. Head coach Herm Edwards said as much in his remarks following the introduction of Law to a contingent of local media.
“I think sometimes we just jump ahead too far,” he said, “We worry about Super Bowl’s, but you can’t win a Super Bowl unless you win your first games. That’s what this team needs to become. We need to become a consistent playoff football team.”
Nothing illustrates this proposition of putting the cart before the horse more clearly than this insistence that the team is just a player away. This is, however, more the media’s template than the team’s. In speaking before the gathering of media and broadcast on this Web site, Law made it abundantly clear from his perspective that he “can’t say that one person can be the savior for any football team.” Edwards, for his part, refused to acknowledge that “he’s the missing piece,” preferring to say that he thinks “he’s a very good player and that helps you.”
But for too many in the media there is no debate, not even a residual slick on the surface. The media have an allergy to the hard slog that building a team requires. They believe in the quick fix because it’s easy to write or talk about, especially if you can identify who this savior might be and it’s Law and it has been for some time in their minds.
I have been a ubiquitous analyst of unrestricted free agency – ubiquity being one of this writer’s favorite qualities — and identifying the latest free agent du jour and recognizing him as a savior doesn’t make it true.
A few years back Denver thought it had the final piece of the puzzle in Champ Bailey and the pundits echoed that here was the spark guaranteed to ignite the team’s drive to another Super Bowl championship.
Following this tangled logic please tell us that if a 26-year old Bailey, regarded as the best cornerback in the NFL, can’t make a difference for a team that’s alleged to be so close, how do you suppose a 32-year old corner can?
The Chiefs have made trips to the playoffs in a decade where only four NFL teams have not, so that should be any clear thinking person’s goal and a reasonable one to boot. But it sure won’t be a grizzled cornerback that shall lead them and besides, until they’ve gone and won a game there then his talk of a Super Bowl is more absurdity than reality.
http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2006/07/24/dawes_an_inconvenient_truth/