Out of the Blue
By Brian Miller
HTF Columnist
“I was born a poor black child.”
Wait a minute. That wasn’t the first line I was going for. I am not a bum. I’m a jerk.
And we’re off to a ragingly inept start. Let’s try it again.
One, two, barbecue…
Yes, due to the wild popularity of my BBQ (Brief Burning Questions) which appeared in this space last week – and I may be overstating by using the words “wild” and “popularity” in this sentence – we are going to light it up again. Without further ado…
Q: Speaking of burning, has Randy Moss burnt all his bridges?
A: My main man Moss is a perplexing issue for me. Even as the most ardent apologist around for The Freak because of his preternatural physical abilities, I have to admit I’m disappointed in my fellow 35-year-old West Virginian. Cris Carter might have said it best: “The one thing you have to address with Randy Moss is not a conditioning thing. It's not an age thing. ... I believe it's the elephant in the room. It's that thing called quit. And Randy, not like any other superstar I've met, he has more quit in him than any of those other players.”
As much as it hurts to admit it, I have to agree with Moss’ former mentor. Right now, Moss’ legacy, if he never plays another snap, will be one of supreme talent that was, for lack of a better word, wasted. Not completely, because when Moss was motivated – his rookie year and his recordbreaking
23-TD 2007 season spring immediately to mind (not coincidentally, the 1998 Vikings and 2007 Patriots were the two highest-scoring teams in history) – he was quite simply unstoppable. He was the perfect combination of sizzling speed, significant stature, deft feet, Velcro hands, leaping largesse and quintessential timing. He still could be next to unstoppable, even at 35, if given another chance. And if he gets one, I hope he makes the most of the opportunity to reshape his legacy and finally get a ring. Ideally, the Patriots bring him back to give them the deep threat the sorely missed in this season, especially in the Super Bowl.
Is he a first-ballot Hall-of- Famer? With his ethereal talent, Moss should have rewritten all the record books by now and be closing in on Jerry Rice. Instead, he’ll likely have to settle for second at best in most career
categories. But I have no doubt he belongs in the Hall the first time he’s up for the vote. I sincerely hope that he’s given another opportunity because in his prime, I cannot remember a more electric player than The Freak, the guy who made you suck in your breath every time Randall Cunningham, Daunte Culpepper or Tom Brady lofted a deep ball down the right sideline because you knew a big play was coming.
Q: Will somebody stop the Linsanity?
A: I have never seen anything like the story that is Jeremy Lin. By now, you know the story if you’ve had ESPN on for two minutes in the last two weeks. Lin, an undrafted Harvard-bred Taiwanese-American point guard who was cut by two teams this preseason and was close to being cut by the New York Knicks, in a desperation move, is inserted into the Knicks starting lineup. And the Knicks have won seven straight, going from a team that was destined to miss the playoffs and fire their coach to a major player in the Eastern Conference race. All Lin has done is score in bushels – 38 points against the Lakers
at Madison Square Garden was his zenith…so far – and even when he hasn’t scored that much, he’s been a major facilitator (13 assists in a win over Sacramento Wednesday). His biggest moment was his calm, cool and collected three-pointer for the win with less than a second left against Toronto.
I repeat: I have never seen anything like this before. Hollywood could not have written this script. An Ivy League Asian-American comes off the bench to carry the basketball team in the Mecca of basketball – New York City – and becomes an instant folk hero? Utterly implausible. But it’s happening. ESPN confirms it over and over and over every other minute. But I’m loving it. Between Rubio, Love and Lin and the compact schedule, this has easily been the most entertaining NBA season I can remember since KG’s heyday in Minnesota in 2003-04.
Q: Have the New York Giants surpassed the Green Bay Packers as the team you love to hate the most in the NFL?
A: The short answer is maybe. But it’s hard to defi ne. I probably do detest the Giants more than the Packers at this moment in time, if only because they won a Super Bowl more recently, and I don’t have my 50-odd Cheesehead friends who came out of the woodwork last year digging into me.
Wisconsin or New York? Errrrr…I’ll take Wisconsin I guess.
Q: Whose your money on? Kevin Love in the three-point contest or Derrick Williams in the slam dunk contest?
A: I’m torn here. Williams can jump out of the gym, but I’ve never seen anybody play with the persistence that Love does, so it would not shock me if he was the first power forward ever to win the distance shooting competition. Fact is, I cannot remember another power forward ever selected to shoot in the contest. Amazing stuff. Rubio and Williams in the rookiesophomore game, Love and Williams in the contests, Love in the actual All-Star Game (should be starting). It’s going to be a fun All-Star Weekend. I can’t wait.
That’s all I’ve got. Tip the veal.
Until next time…
Brian Miller is a longtime local sports writer. He is equally amenable to glowing accolades and scathing reviews at miller24bri@gmail.com.
