Sports

September 15, 2008

 

 

The horror of NFL week On@ 3, vicsisin

O. September 7", 2008—a date which will live in infamy—Tom Brady was
suddenly attacked by Bernard Pollard of the Kansas City Chiefs, and had his season
ended. Okay, I guess it’s not as serious as the bombing of Pearl Harbor, but it has to
be up there.

Tom Brady, possibly the greatest NFL quarterback of all time, had his season
ended eight minutes after it began...and he was off to a good start, too! He had
completed 7 of 11 passes for 76 yards before the hit. As Tom moved forward in the
pocket to release the ball, Bernard Pollard came out of nowhere, intent on getting
Tom’s knee, and he did. The results of Tom Brady’s MRI on Monday were that the
superstar quarterback had suffered a tear of both his ACL and his MCL.

So this was pretty much the most devastating news I may have ever heard.
You have to understand the position of not only me, but all other New England
Patriots fans. In 2007, our team goes 16-0 in the regular season...phenomenal.
After two playoff games, they were 18-0. We’re one win away from being Super
Bowl champs, and a perfect 19-0, but no, Eli Manning, an overall mediocre
quarterback, completes a pass to an unheard of receiver named David Tyree, and all
hell pretty much breaks loose. Superstar cornerback Asante Samuel couldn’t make
the easy interception, Ellis Hobbs couldn’t even stay close to the receiver he was
covering, and then Randy Moss couldn’t get to Tom Brady’s hail-marys. But even
though that was so painful, it wasn’t too hard to overlook, because we had one of
the greatest wide receivers of all time returning the following year, in addition to
our unbelievable quarterback who threw for 50 touchdowns in the regular season,
as well as 4,800 yards passing, and an unreal quarterback rating of 117.2. So our
chances of dominating the NFL again this year looked pretty high.

Until eight minutes into that game.

Tom Brady hadn’t played a single snap in the preseason because of a nagging
injury that wasn’t serious enough to keep him out of Sunday’s lineup. Everything
looked good to go. Tom Brady started the game strong, and then in what seemed
like a few minutes, that all came crashing down.

The last time an injury like that happened to the New England Patriots was in
2001, when Drew Bledsoe got injured, and Brady was thrust into the role of starting
quarterback. He obviously excelled, as he’s now pretty much a first ballot hall-of-
famer.

But who is Tom Brady’s backup? As of right now, it’s a career backup by
the name of Matt Cassel, who’s last start came back during his senior year of high
school. After Tom was knocked out, Cassel came in completing his first five passes.
He even had a 98 yard touchdown drive during the game! Overall, Cassel went 13-
18 with 152 yards passing and a touchdown. If he can repeat that, or maybe even do
a little better, we should be good to go, especially with our defense, and the rest of
our offense. If he can’t, we’re in big trouble.

The Patriots face a test this week against the New York Jets, who made a big
splash in the off-season, acquiring Brett Favre. If the Pats win, I can honestly say
I'd be very relieved. If they lose... well, let’s just say the New England Patriots,
and all of its fans, are in for a long and painful season.

 

 

 

    

 

‘
Garth
McLennan
sports editor
aver annamne vibe ie
A Isb iste is finall gone

i. pucks. Why we dressed him over Trevor Linden so many times is a mystery to

he Canucks have been significantly reshaped during this off season, not me.
necessarily for the better, and the moves continued recently with the departure Simply put, Isbister was a truly useless player. He wasn’t even a bad
of bottom feeder forward, Brad Isbister when the Edmonton native signed a player who tried super hard and inspired his teammates. He was just bad. He is
one-year, two-way contract with the Ottawa Senators. simply one of those interchangeable spare parts that few teams want but most

For all the negative things new GM Mike Gillis has done so far in his teams need to get their salary cap figures in order. In no shape or form will he
tenure, not re-signing Isbister has been one be missed.
of his better decisions. F 7 a 4 ’

; “Isbister has shown virtually no improvement or skill devel- “ anes ystery ag Ps why an

Isbister, 31, played just one season with ; * offensively geared, high caliber team like

‘ ; ; : opment over the course of his 11-year career.
Vancouver, and it was a poor experience for Ottawa would be interested in the services of
both sides. Despite being healthy for most of a player who, despite his considerable size
the year, he was in Coach Alain Vigneault’s dog house for the majority of the and weight, has shown virtually no improvement or skill development over the
year, playing just 55 games. He scored just six goals and added only five assists course of his 11-year career. At 64, 231 pounds, Isbister has the tools to be an
for a meager eleven points on the campaign. He also had 38 penalty minutes. impact player, but with a combination of poor skating ability and what appears

The Canucks missed the playoffs last season and Isbister did nothing to to be zero desire, there’s a good reason why he’s drifted around the league.
contribute to their improvement. He was big, slow and showed absolutely zero Ottawa will be his seventh professional team.
effort when he was on the ice. He wouldn’t hit or go into the corners to dig out The Senators play an up-tempo, entertaining style of run-and-gun hockey.

V y,

 

 

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