Lord Stan The Man

Best news since France was eliminated from the World Cup this morning: It’s time for my inaugural quasi mailbag! Notice the “quasi.” The reason for this is that I’m not actually going over any mail -- all reader comments (“takes”) today. Why? No e-mails of note. And by “no e-mails of note,” I mean that the only e-mails I received about articles were from my mom and grandma. Let’s move on.

But before we get to the quasi mailbag (comment bag), a quick word about U.S. Soccer’s match Wednesday against Algeria. If the USA fails to advance to the knockout round, Americans will be up in arms because of Koman Coulibaly’s blown call last match.

Besides being the only guy I know from Mali, Coulibaly is also the only soccer referee that I know. Even in soccer, the only recognized referees are the ones that make a terrible call. It’s similar to Jim Joyce and baseball, except that the USA-Slovenia game was like 90 minutes of Joyce calls. And after the Galarraga near-perfecto, the whole ordeal turned into a great feel-good story. This pretty much has no upside, except that a few more people have heard of Mali.

However, if the USA can’t beat Algeria, then they don’t even deserve to make it through. Beat Algeria, and the Americans move on to the knockout stage. Lose and everyone freaks out at Koman Coulibaly. But if we can’t even beat Algeria, then our frustration should be directed mostly at our players, not officiating.

To the quasi mailbag (the best comments of the last few posts). It’s an all-football edition:

lee the lion:

“bring [back] bobby lane”

Last year I would have agreed with this statement. Even though Layne has been dead for nearly 25 years, I still would have started him at quarterback for Detroit as late as 2008.

I like Matthew Stafford a lot. Even though he was a bit erratic at times last season, he showed good leadership qualities and some flashes of brilliance when both he and Calvin Johnson were healthy. I’m looking forward to a year of having Stafford and Johnson healthy together.

One of the weirdest coincidences ever has to be Stafford’s connection with Bobby Layne. Stafford went to the same high school as Layne, and he even grew up on the same street as the Lions’ star of the 50’s. If Stafford brings back a winning tradition to Detroit, then I’m going to raise my kid on that street in Dallas.

eben:

“Haynesworthless”

Not sure who came up with this, but I approve. The only problem? He’s not quite worthless ... try $100 million. It would be like having an expensive yet ugly chandelier in your house. You want to get rid of it, but it’s just too expensive so you leave it up. Yet the only person who would buy such an overpriced chandelier? Dan Snyder. That’s the only funny part about this whole ordeal for Redskins fans: Albert Haynesworth is stealing Snyder’s money. Awesome.

burgundy/gold:

“His fat #$$ would surely enjoy commuting to a real job every morning. But he already got the money, so he's surely content.”

If Albert was an Average Joe with a 9-to-5 desk job, there’s no chance he would show up for more than one day per week. And he’d probably just come in to pick up his timecard. Speaking of overrated players that refuse to play: France soccer. The team refused to practice for coach Raymond Domenech. They played horribly in the tournament. The sports minister said that the players had disgraced the country. It’s like every player on the roster was Albert Haynesworth.

bob:

“I would be mad if I were Haynesworth. He signed with the Redskins because Dan Snyder promised him that they were going to stay in the 4-3. Thats where he dominates. So for Snyder to flip-flop on that decision shows the weakness in the front office of DC”

Interesting point. But at the end of the day, Dan Snyder doesn’t have control over the day-to-day football operations of the Washington Redskins. Not anymore at least.

Sure, the front office used to be weak. But Haynesworth must have known that the defensive scheme would change at some point in his Redskins’ tenure. Mike Shanahan is in control, and Haynesworth should be in camp. He took his $21 million bonus, so there’s no excuse.

Haynesworthless.


You can e-mail Stanley at lordstantheman@gmail.com with any comments or questions. Stanley writes a Detroit Lions blog for NFL.com's Blog Blitz powered by SportsFanLive.com.