Mr. Silent Strikes Again

Back in June, I did a post about a guy who decided he wanted to be a super hero. He calls himself Mr. Silent, and he is a defender of the helpless in Indianapolis. I really don't have a whole lot more to say about him, but thanks to Phil I've discovered that he has a MySpace Page. That's pretty sweet. Below is an interview that Mr. Silent had with Fox News. It is my goal to meet Mr. Silent on the streets of Indianapolis. I'm a big fan now. Here is the original post I did. It explains what super hero I would be.

Ice Ice Baby!

Kravitz vs. Colts: Marvin Harrison is "Selfish and Small?"

Something fishy is going on between Indystar sports columnist Bob Kravitz and the Indianapolis Colts (specifically, Tony Dungy and Bill Polian). In Monday's column, Kravitz was a bit harsh with Colts wide receiver Marvin Harrison. Apparently, Marvin walked off into the locker room before halftime, while Vinatieri was setting up for a field goal.

I missed this during the game, but people who went to the game probably noticed. At any rate, Kravitz criticized Harrison for this "disappearing act," saying that it was "as embarrassing as it was out of character." He goes on to complain about Harrison not attempting to tackle Philadelphia's Lito Sheppard after an interception. These acts are described by Kravitz as Harrison's "hissy fit."

You can read that article here


Well today, Kravitz has written an equally "embarrassing and out of character" column for IndyStar. He appears quite offended that the Colts are actually defending Harrison and attempting to explain what really happened. Imagine someone involved with today's media accusing others of putting a story through the "spin cycle." Kravitz doesn't reference it, but a few of Polian's quotes can be read here. He defends Harrison's actions.

If you read between the lines of Kravitz's column today, you can see that he pushed the wrong buttons on Monday. I'm guessing they (someone associated with the Colts) complained to Kravitz for being so harsh on Harrison. Then Kravitz felt the need to defend himself through his column, by showing everyone why he is right and the Colts are lying. He is accusing them of creating "revisionist history and spin." Amazing.

I'm not saying he's wrong, I just think he's being a bit ridiculous. After admitting that anyone can have a "lousy day at the office," he goes on to say that Harrison "reduced himself to the lowest common denominator." That's absurd. Yeah, Harrison shouldn't have done it. But to say that is just ridiculous. That's like if Mother Teresa had a rough day and cursed at an orphan who had stolen food. Then Kravitz would say, "See! She's no saint." Okay, that was a horrible example, but it gets my point across.

At the end of the article, Kravitz encourages us to refuse to "buy what Dungy and Polian are selling." Unless we "don't mind them tinkling in your boot and telling you it's raining." That is funny.

But I expect no less from Dungy and Polian. They've probably already worked out whatever issues needed to be handled. Who cares? So Harrison walked out before halftime and complained about a call instead of catching a defender and injuring himself for the season. Let the coach handle that situation. Don't write a sophomoric article saying a man has "reduced himself to the lowest common denominator."

I don't know about you, but it sure looks like rain to me.

Anyways, I wouldn't be at all surprised if we hear more about this in the future. Please let me know if you hear anything, I'm interested to see how it pans out. I'm including the full text of today's column in case you're interested. Here's a link for it at IndyStar, or just read on:

"November 29, 2006

Bob Kravitz
Colts try spin cycle in Harrison story

A couple of minutes after Sunday night's Indianapolis Colts victory, I approached coach Tony Dungy as he made his way from the interview room to the locker room.

I asked him if anything was going on with Marvin Harrison, who seemed upset throughout the game, and I specifically noted that the player left the field before halftime.

Dungy said he didn't notice that Harrison had exited stage right. On Monday afternoon, though, Dungy was saying that he gave Harrison permission to leave early to receive additional stretching during halftime.

And Monday night, Colts president Bill Polian said on his radio show, "I just confirmed this with Tony less than 10 minutes ago (before the 6 p.m. show). Marvin went into the locker room with Tony's knowledge because he was tightening up. Now if you're 188 pounds and you're blocking for sweeps against safeties like (Brian) Dawkins and Lito Sheppard, you might tighten up. And he did, and he spent the entire halftime being stretched out by trainers in the training room.
"That's why he went in early. Not because he was Randy Moss. Not because he walked off the field because he didn't catch a pass. Because he needed to get stretched.''

So, which is it:
Dungy knew, or he didn't know?

Think about this: If Dungy had responded to my postgame question by saying, "Yeah, he was tightening up and we wanted to get him into the locker room to get stretched,'' don't you figure the column would have read differently?

I would have gone one of two ways. Either written:
"Despite what looked like a premature LeBron James-style walkoff before halftime, Harrison, in fact, left with Dungy's blessing in order to get treatment for muscle tightness.''

Or I would have written nothing.

Maybe stuck a paragraph into the Dopey Report Card about how Harrison didn't make much of an effort on the interception.

Except Dungy didn't say that. He said nothing about Harrison's early exit. Mostly, he shrugged and looked at me like I was from the Planet Formerly Known as Pluto.
Polian needs to understand this: While he believes all of this is a concoction brewed by what he calls the "chattering classes,'' the fact is, fans who were at the game and those who watched on TV were yapping about Harrison's demeanor long before a word appeared in The Star.

The message boards were buzzing with talk of Harrison's body language. As I drove home from the RCA Dome, the postgame show was filled with callers wondering what was up with Harrison, well before a single word of mine or anybody else's appeared in the next day's paper.

Even if we're to accept the team's explanation that he wanted to get a four-second head start in the training room, the truth is, Harrison appeared to many of us -- and not just the pundits and football Oprahs -- that he was in serial mope mode all night.

Did he block well?
Yeah, he blocked well.

As Polian noted, Harrison graded out with an A-plus for his blocking on the coaches' Not Quite As Dopey Report Cards.

"So, Marvin was not disinterested, he was not uninvolved, he wasn't pouting, he wasn't in a snit, he was blocking his tail off,'' Polian said.
That wasn't the argument.

Nobody claimed he was dogging it -- except, well, on the interception, where he stood and argued for pass interference rather than pursue the defensive back.
The claim here -- and elsewhere -- is he was pitching a very subtle fit.
And what we're getting now from Dungy and Polian is revisionist history and spin because in Colts World, a player can do no wrong, unless his name is Mike Vanderjagt.

Look, there's nothing wrong with ego. I had one installed a couple of years ago in a relatively painless procedure. Athletes who are great at anything generally have oversized egos to match. I remember that when Edgerrin James didn't get his carries, nobody moped more. I don't know if the wide receiver position draws certain types of personalities, or produces divas, but all around the league, the game is populated by high-profile soloists who demand pampering and special attention.

That's what made Harrison's performance just a little bit shocking. Sure, he cares about numbers, a whole lot more than he'll let on, and he's one of the moodiest and most inscrutable athletes of all time. But for the better part of a majestic Hall of Fame career here, he has represented everything that's supposed to be good about the NFL.

I can readily accept that a player, or a coach, or a columnist, is going to have his lousy days at the office. That's not the issue here. The issue is, a great player with a mostly spotless reputation reduced himself to the lowest common denominator.
You want to buy what Dungy and Polian are selling?

Hey, if you don't mind having your intelligence insulted, if you don't mind them tinkling in your boot and telling you it's raining, well, then, that's your problem.

Bob Kravitz is a columnist for The Indianapolis Star."

IndyStar comments from this article

Vanderjagt Gets the Boot

The most accurate idiot kicker in the history of the NFL has been released from his duties. Here is an article from NFL.com:

"Cowboys release Vanderjagt, sign Gramatica

IRVING, Texas (Nov. 27, 2006) -- The Dallas Cowboys released Mike Vanderjagt, apparently tired of his inability to live up to his reputation as the most accurate kicker in league history. Martin Gramatica was signed as his replacement.

The Cowboys gave Vanderjagt a three-year contract to shore up a position coach Bill Parcells felt cost the team three victories last season.

However, he was injured and inconsistent in training camp, plus reluctant to handle kickoffs. Parcells never seemed to warm to him and he was only 13-for-18 on field goals, the lowest success rate (72 percent) of his career.

Dallas (7-4) will play at the New York Giants (6-5) on Dec. 3. Winners of three straight, the Cowboys are first in the NFC East.

The Cowboys did not release any details about the move, and players were off. Parcells will next speak to reporters Nov. 28.

AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service"

For some strange reason, I was glad to hear this. As if his being fired justified the move the Colts made. Then I thought how messed up it is that I would be glad to hear about a man losing his job. Oh well.

Shane's Thoughts

Brian's Thoughts

Thanksgiving Weekend 2006

Wow. What a weekend. Few things are more difficult than going back to work after an awesome extended vacation. The only reason I feel so miserable at work is because I had such an amazing four day weekend. I doubt any of you really care much about what I did, but when I read this again in ten years, I want to remember what a great time I had for one weekend.

It all started Wednesday night when our Men's Group had the annual Turkey Fry. The turkey was delicious (as were the Funyuns), and we fought over the crispy skin as usual. Luckily for us, that night also corresponded with the anniversary of C.S. Lewis' death. We decided to read some favorite quotes and passages and use those for discussion and something to do while drinking beer. (Rab's post with favorite quote)

I'm going to include an excerpt of one passage that was read from Mere Christianity. It's long, so feel free to skip it.

"Chastity is the most unpopular of the Christian virtues. There is no
getting away from it: the old Christian rule is, "Either marriage, with complete faithfulness to your partner, or else total abstinence." Now this is so difficult and so contrary to our instincts, that obviously either Christianity is wrong or our sexual instinct, as it now is, has gone wrong. One or the other. Of course, being a Christian, I think it is the instinct which has gone wrong.

But I have other reasons for thinking so. The biological purpose of sex is children, just as the biological purpose of eating is to repair the body. Now if we eat whenever we feel inclined and just as much as we want, it isquite true that most of us will eat too much: but not terrifically too much. One man may eat enough for two, but he does not eat enough for ten. The appetite goes a little beyond its biological purpose, but not enormously. But if a healthy young man indulged his sexual appetite whenever he felt inclined, and if each act produced a baby, then in ten years he might easily populate a small village. This appetite is in ludicrous and preposterous excess of its function.

Or take it another way. You can get a large audience together for a strip-tease act-that is, to watch a girl undress on the stage. Now suppose you came to a country where you could fill a theatre by simply bringing a covered plate on to the stage and then slowly lifting the cover so as to let every one see, just before the lights went out, that it contained a mutton chop or a bit of bacon, would you not think that in that country something had gone wrong with the appetite for food? And would not anyone who had grown up in a different world think there was something equally queer about the state of the sex instinct among us?

One critic said that if he found a country in which such striptease acts with food were popular, he would conclude that the people of that country were starving. He meant, of course, to imply that such things as the strip-tease act resulted not from sexual corruption but from sexual starvation. I agree with him that if, in some strange land, we found that similar acts with mutton chops were popular, one of the possible explanations which would occur to me would be famine. But the next step would be to test our hypothesis by finding out whether, in fact, much or little food was being consumed in that country. If the evidence showed that a good deal was being eaten, then of course we should have to abandon the hypothesis of starvation and try to think of another one. In the same way, before accepting sexual starvation as the cause of the strip-tease, we should have to look for evidence that there is in fact more sexual abstinence in our age than in those ages when things like the strip-tease were unknown. But surely there is no such evidence. Contraceptives have made sexual indulgence far less costly within marriage and far safer outside it than ever before, and public opinion is less hostile to illicit unions and even to perversion than it has been since Pagan times. Nor is the hypothesis of "starvation" the only one we can imagine. Everyone knows that the sexual appetite, like our other appetites, grows by indulgence. Starving men may think much about food, but so do gluttons; the gorged, as well as the famished, like titillations.

Here is a third point. You find very few people who want to eat things that really are not food or to do other things with food instead of eating it. In other words, perversions of the food appetite are rare. But perversions of the sex instinct are numerous, hard to cure, and frightful. I am sorry to have to go into all these details, but I must. The reason why I must is that you and I, for the last twenty years, have been fed all day long on good solid lies about sex. We have been told, till one is sick of hearing it, that sexual desire is in the same state as any of our other natural desires and that if only we abandon the silly old Victorian idea of hushing it up, everything in the garden will be lovely. It is not true. The moment you look at the facts, and away from the propaganda, you see that it is not."
-C.S. Lewis from Mere Christianity

Full Text Here

Thursday was Thanksgiving in all of its gluttonous glory. I drove out to Granny's to spend some time with her. Then felt guilty on the drive home that I don't visit her more often. Then played games at the in-laws until feasting time. My folks came over, along with my wife's entire side of the family. It was a lot of fun and the nice weather allowed for a few games of washers. Then we went home for a nap and ended up sleeping through the night.

Friday's highlight was Monopoly and poker. I won one of the two games of Monopoly that we played, which is a great accomplishment for me and probably the most productive thing I did all weekend.

I spent a lot of Saturday reading "A Confederacy of Dunces," while the wife did a lot of homework.

Sunday was church, lots of Yahtzee with the wife, a little bit of shopping, then more reading. Then I got killed in two games of Scrabble while we waited for the Colts game to start. The game was fun to watch, especially the first half when everything seemed to come together (finally) for the Colts. Hopefully Dallas Clark is back soon. It was embarrassing listening to the NBC broadcasting team try to keep the viewers interested. They talked more about Denver's quarterback dilemna and Romo than they did about Addai and the Colts. And if John Madden ever says the words, "It's just amazing that he [Peyton Manning] never gets injured..." he should be fired from ever doing another Colts game again.

So that was my great weekend and now I'm back at work wondering why I still haven't found a way to figure out what I want to do with my life. Maybe I'm already doing it. Anyways, life goes on.