The NFL: An Interesting Vibe...

Patrick: All right, my dudes. We’re back for another installment of SportsWise, and I can’t help but be nearly obsessed with the NFL. I mean, week after week, I keep thinking some of the forming patterns will change, e.g., the Minnesota Vikings will begin to lose; the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will—behind Tom Brady—be at least a lil’bit better than they’ve shown; that Buffalo will—despite a decent record—get it together and look like the champions that everyone has been telling them they’ll be; or, even, that the Bears will become more consistent. As a Bears fan, I don’t know if we should keep attempting to win, or give it up for higher draft picks next year.

Russ: Well, I don’t want to ever lose a game because we’re attempting to get a higher draft pick…unless, we want a specific draft-number in order to trade it and, possibly, another player for a superstar player in the upcoming year. If not that, then win like you’re in the playoffs. I want a Bears’ victory every time.

Donald: I want a victory every time, but I can understand management somewhat stalling the process by not putting too much money into the team in order to build a stronger force. Now, if it gets down to the players themselves blowing games in order to gain higher draft picks, this I have a problem with. John, what do you think?

John: Well, I’m not a huge draft-picks guy, but, like you, Don, I can understand it. As well, I understand the logic behind losing games purposefully, or as some call it, tanking. I do. But I’m not with that, either.

Russ: All right, enough about tanking as this is a horrible thought with our home team. As for the NFL overall, I am surprised at a lot of what I’m seeing. The Minnesota Vikings rolling through the league with an awesome record—number 2 in the NFC—just behind another awesome record for the Philadelphia Eagles, who are undefeated through 8 games.

John: Yeah, I’m still waiting for the Vikings to collapse… but they keep winning. And they’re not looking too bad either. Not like champions, but…

Patrick: And we haven’t even mentioned the Green Bay Packers’ inability to right the ship. John, you mentioned a few months back—even before the season started, I believe— that the Packers wouldn’t make the playoffs. I laughed in disbelief…but, wow, you’re like a psychic up to this point. Not looking good for Green Bay at the moment.

John: I remember that. I just felt the loss of Davante Adams would be too much for the Packers and Aaron Rodgers to overcome. And, so far, that’s definitely the case.

Donald: Speaking of, Davante Adams with the Las Vegas Raiders I thought would be something nice. He and quarterback Derek Carr could’ve been something real good. I mean I guess they still can, but at 2-7 through week 9, it’s not looking up for them. Davante’s been speaking about it to the media, too.

Russ: The sad thing about it all is that had Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams remained teammates in Green Bay, we would probably be talking about them whenever we spoke about the Super Bowl. They were really good together.

Donald: They were. The money aspect of it all is really killing much of sports, in my opinion. I love to watch sports and couldn’t imagine not having it at my fingertips, but being a kid in the yard pretending to be Tony Dorsett? That’s that stripped-down passion we need to get back to.

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