Save Ferris!

Interesting take by Bill Simmons’ buddy Michael Lombardi (nationalfootballpost.com) on the Eli Manning deal. (For those of you who are not sports obsessed, Eli Manning is the less telegenic of the two Manning brothers, pro football quarterbacks both, who are the children of another professional quarterback, Archie Manning. This Manning just signed a new contract from approximately 2.2 skidillion dollars to continue playing football for what ESPN’s Chris Berman calls the “New York Football Giants”.(He does that because the baseball team now known as the San Francisco Giants used to be the New York Giants.)Manning is, as of this moment, the highest paid player in football. )

(Let’s put aside for the moment the argument that no one deserves to make that kind of money to play a game for a living.)

My very first reaction, I must confess, was “Eli Manning? Really? I’m not sure he’s the best quarterback in his division, never mind the whole league!”

Lombardi argues that, although Manning is pretty definitely not the best player in football, the deal still makes sense. Lombardi argues that Manning is who he is-knowing his strengths and limitations, he is better than most other potential quarterbacks they could obtain.

This dovetails with an idea, certainly not original with me, that I have had for a while that never gets enough press. The idea is that it is much more productive-infinitely so-to evaluate athletes (and people in general) by what they CAN do, rather than focusing on what they can’t do. The Giants know what Manning can do, so they elect to keep him around and try to reduce the amount of things they ask him to do that he can’t do, instead of casting him aside because of what he can’t do, wishing for the perfect RoboQuarterback. Everyone wants a QB with Tom Brady’s brain, Michael Vick’s legs, Brett Favre’s guts, and Peyton Manning’s arm. But they aren’t available on the free agent wire.

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ESPN’s Bob Ley notes it is the anniversary of the burial of Yankee catcher Thurman Munson, while comedian Marc Maron notes on Twitter that August 9 will be the anniversary of the Manson murders, Maron’s own sobriety, and the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. Sobering thoughts. So to speak.

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Twitter is telling me that film auteur John Hughes has died. I can't honestly say I was a huge fan, but "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"...wow. What a film. If you haven't seen it, I'm not even sure what to say to you. It was cool in ways you can't even describe, really. This is one of the scenes towards the end of the movie, which is wholly improbable and stupid but gorgeous in a really fun, happy sort of way.

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