Well, after a pretty amazing stretch of games, we finally have a Super Bowl, and it’s Rams vs. Bengals. And as annoying as it is to root for a Los Angeles-based football team, in a Super Bowl that’s being played in LA, and as likable as Joe Burrow seems to be, I think you’ve got to pull for the Rams.
Almost exactly a year ago, the Rams pulled the trigger on a blockbuster trade for Matthew Stafford, sending the Detroit Lions two first-round picks, a third-round pick, and former #1 overall pick Jared Goff. The reaction to the trade was bemusement—almost everyone thought LA gave up too much for a 33-year-old quarterback who had never won a playoff game. In a league, where the two things valued above all else are draft picks and young quarterbacks, this move cut against the grain in a very pro-labor way.
For one, anything that helps a team win now, and goes against the GM’s impulse to stockpile future picks so you can theoretically win later, is good for players. But it’s also a good trade because it values players for what they can do for a team. Some are still skeptical of Stafford, pointing out that he’s gotten some lucky breaks and played somewhat erratically this postseason. But that’s exactly why the move should be celebrated. The Rams didn’t try to assess Stafford’s value in some abstract, “is he elite?” kind of way—they just thought going from Goff to Stafford would make them better, so they did what it took to make that happen, even if it looked like an overpayment to outsiders. And now they’re in the Super Bowl.
Of course, the Rams made the Super Bowl three years ago with Jared Goff, so people will probably continue to kill the trade unless they win. So hopefully, they will win.
Anyway, here’s a rundown of everything from Undrafted this month:
This was a reaction to that mini-controversy over Kirk Herbstreit saying “this era of [college] player just doesn’t love football.” Everyone’s already forgotten about this little dustup by now, but I think it’s important not to cede the concept of “loving what you do” to reactionaries. A cool thing about being a pro athlete is that you can love what you do and ALSO get paid a lot doing it! That should be normal!
This was a short one about the weirdness of watching the Chargers-Raiders game and hoping they tied, and really just an excuse to talk about Herm Edwards’ famous press conference.
A look at the respective fates of the San Antonio Spurs in a post-Tim Duncan world, and the New England Patriots in a post-Tom Brady world. It really seems obvious in retrospect—to me, at least—that we gave the respective coaches too much credit for those teams’ success. They both just rode the wave of the two of the greatest pro careers ever, but anti-labor sentiment transposed credit onto curmudgeonly coaches who must have been geniuses because of how rude they were all the time.
It’s a few days later, so I’m not quite as angry about David Ortiz’s election to the Hall of Fame, but I’m still pretty stunned at the blatant hypocrisy of the whole thing. You’d think they might at least PRETEND to be internally consistent by making Ortiz wait a year or two, but no… I’m probably going to write more about the Steroid Era if baseball’s lockout ever ends, so brace yourself, dear reader.
Look, am I happy that I keep having to write about how MAGA hat-wearing, NFT-peddling, perfect life-having, Tom Brady is a socialist icon? No, of course not. But this is my lot in life, and I will embrace it…