Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

On one hand you have to feel for Patriots back-up QB Matt Cassel because he's always a bridesmaid and never a bride. Cassel was a back-up in college (at USC to Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart) and now he's a back-up to Tom Brady. You know the guy wants a shot to show people what he can do. On the other hand - being back-up to Tom Brady has to be a great gig to have... Today would have been Jackie Robinson's 89th birthday... Plaxico Burress's prediction of a 23-17 Giants victory will help the Patriots in a subtle way. I'm thinking that the Patriots will make it a point to bump, push, and shove Burress at every opportunity. This extra contact could wear down the receiver just enough so that he's slow on a route or maybe drops a pass. The refs will probably let the Patriots get away with a little extra because subconsciously they might think that Burress brought it on himself... Today is Nolan Ryan's 61st birthday.. Professional back-up Matt Cassel should take comfort in having a better pro career than Heisman Trophy winners Danny Wuerffel - 1996, Chris Weinke - 2000 (who holds the NFL record for most consecutive losses by a quarterback in a season at 14), Eric Crouch - 2001 and Jason White - 2003 (who never even got a regular season snap in the NFL)... I played cards last night and a guy at my table saw the Georgetown / St. John's halftime score and said "Wow - St. John's is getting beat 41-14." Another guy at the table asked, "Is that a women's game?" The first guy then shouted over to a friend at the next table, "Hey Joe - did you see the St. John's score? They're getting beat 41-14." A guy at the second table asked, "Is that a women's game?" The final score ended up being 74-42. St. John's should have kept Kevin Clark as coach.