The loss of Michael Westbrook to reconstructive knee surgery is being viewed as a setback to the team comparable to the setback suffered by physics at the death of Albert Einstein. Michael Westbrook has been here five years and has been out of as many games as he has been in. Last year, he "matured" which is jockspeak for "became tolerable as a person to have in the locker room". Here is a guy with immense physical talent who made a single great play in college to win a game on national TV and who has lived off that ever since. And by the way, so has the guy who threw him the ball - Kordell Stewart.

Interviews with the "hominid on the street" yield great insights such as:

"The Redskins need to run the ball more often."

"Norv Turner got outcoached by (fill in the blank here but never allude to the erstwhile coach whose last name begins with 'K'.)"

"Dan Snyder should stay home; his presence in the stadium intimidates the players and the coaches." (I could not make up something that outrageous.)

ESPN reports that the Redskins signed Andre Reed to replace Westbrook. This is vintage "Danny Boy"; Reed is - make that was - a Hall of Fame player so he must still be good for a couple of big games. On that theory, he might have contacted Frank Gifford to see if he was interested in one more shot at the big one. Problem is that Frank brings Kathie Lee with him and that would provide stiff competition for "Danny Boy" as the most annoying carbon based life form associated with the team. Andre Reed left the Broncos because he was going to be their fifth wide receiver and would not have dressed out for all the games. Quick, name the four receivers who were ahead of him. Reed lost a step two years ago and got by on savvy; last year he lost his third step and we'll see what he has now. But with all the scouting and evaluations, wasn't there a better WR out there to look at? Or was the primary criterion, "former All-Pro". If so, why not trade for Jerry Rice? He has as much left in the tank as Reed does and SF would have to take a draft choice package to get him since they have to realize that they are headed for the cesspool this year. Danny Boy has to recognize that Rice is a Hall of Famer too, don't you think?

Good game on MNF last night. Vinny was sharp in the first quarter and looked like he would pick apart the Pats' defense. Then he reverted to "Tampa Bay Vinny" who could not throw the ball off an ocean liner and get it wet. The Pats had some "red zone problems of their own. In their first five trips there, they got four field goals and a missed field goal attempt. Then with six minutes to play, Vinny channeled back through the time warp and engineered a good TD drive and won the game with another TD pass with under two minutes to play.

I believe that Bledsoe was sacked 6 times and if so that means that he has been sacked six times in both games this season and sacked six times in 5 of his last 8 games. I think it is time for some more "max protection" calls from the offensive coordinator whose name is not memorable but whose girth makes his presence on the sideline patently obvious. Bledsoe can be thankful that he does not have the University of Nevada offensive line in front of him. Last week TCU sacked Nevada QBs a total of 15 times - 12 sacks in the first half. The only offensive thing about that line is their flatulence.

And enough of the cracking on Dennis Miller. It is time to focus on the real incompetence of the telecast and that would be Eric Dickerson. As a sideline reporter, Lesley Visser was annoying with her whiny voice and she only asked the "formula questions" such as "Coach Bumble, what do you have to do in the second half to overcome this 49-0 deficit?" Nonetheless, after 3 weeks of Eric Dickerson and his airheaded partner on the sidelines, Lesley Visser is beginning to look like the reincarnation of Edward R. Murrow.

The Olympics are poised to intrude on our consciousness. Maybe invade is a better word. NBC - and its affiliated cable networks - will carry a minimum of 162.5 hours of programming. Based on the way events unfold, this could be expanded to 180.5 hours. They are targeting families and people who are not usually tuned into sporting events and they will target that audience with the "spectacle of the Games" and an interminable parade of "up close and personal profiles" of anyone and everyone involved. Already finished and ready to cue-up, are 100 athlete profiles lasting 3 minutes each and 30 segments about Australia and its people and its culture that last 4 minutes each. And more are still in production… This may reach a different target audience, but will send me screaming for the barf bag.

Memos to NBC:
1. Every athlete did not have to overcome great obstacles to get here. And even if they did, so what? They made it here.

2. Most of the athletes here are doing this as their job. They are getting paid for it in various ways. Is the life story of your microphone tester compelling? Hell no, it isn't even interesting.

3. Australia is a pretty place. If I want to know about it I can tune in the Travel Channel or the Discovery Channel or The Beer Channel.

4. In case you have forgotten, the Olympics are about sporting events. The reason you can't emphasize that is too many of them are concocted events. (Are you ready for "49er dinghy sailing"; it's gonna happen!) And you are stuck because you paid gadjillions of dollars to televise this crapola through the year 2012.

Yesterday, I alluded to the FBI investigation of Minnesota and its academic scandals in the basketball program. Well, right on cue the trustees of the University of Minnesota have filed a lawsuit against former coach Clem Haskins to recover the $1.5M that they gave him to buy out his contract. They claimed that his statements to the University were completely different from his statements to the NCAA and therefore the contract buy-out was done on the basis of "purposefully misleading information". Personally, I don't care if Clem keeps the money or not. But isn't it interesting that the University could not get the real story out of Clem and lots of their "student-athletes" major in criminal justice. You'd think...

Oliver Miller seems to have officially eaten his way out of the NBA; the Phoenix Suns don't want him to report to their camp. He joins John "Hot Plate" Williams and Kevin Duckworth and Super John Williamson and Ladell Eckles in that tradition but he seems to have missed an important component in their track to infamy. Oliver never played for the Bullets/Wizards as did all these other gravitationally gifted individuals. He needs to make a call and at least get an invitation to the Wizards camp.

Mike Mussina has turned down a 6 year $72M offer from the O's and his agent says there will be no more contract discussions until the season is over. When Mussina leaves, Peter Asbestos will need to try to save face and may well steal a page from Danny Boy and make an offer to Nolan Ryan to try a comeback.

Finally, I am sorry I missed this last week. Jerry "the Genius" Krause has made another bold move to bring the Chicago Bulls back to the focus of the basketball world. He had been hiding his intentions all along. He signed Brad Miller to a three year deal. That will take the Bulls from a projected 25 wins all the way to - uh - 23 wins.

But don't get me wrong, I love sports...