The Road More Travelled

Written by C.J. Felton


Continued from page 1

Which may explain why he has so often appeared disinterested with this Pistons team. Granted, there have been plenty of personal and professional distractions in Detroit this season. A very short summer left precious little time to rechargerepparttar batteries afterrepparttar 133003 Pistons’ title run and Brown’s frustrating Olympic experience. An unexpected hip surgery followingrepparttar 133004 Piston’s regular season opener turnedrepparttar 133005 coach into a spectator forrepparttar 133006 first few weeks ofrepparttar 133007 season. And then almost immediately upon his return, The Brawl. But more than anything, Brown just looks and acts likerepparttar 133008 burner is on low. Every time he has been at or nearrepparttar 133009 top, he’s left forrepparttar 133010 next chance to teach an organization how to do things “the right way” . The Pistons are on top, looking down, and for Larry Brown that meansrepparttar 133011 next challenge awaits, and it’s time to zip uprepparttar 133012 suitcase. For Brown to end up in New York next season, Dumars would have to either fire him (very unlikely for those other 15 million reasons), or let him out of his contract, which is actually a strong possibility. Dumars has never kept a player that didn’t want to play in Detroit, and here’s betting he wouldn’t treat a coach any differently.

On Monday, Brown finally addressedrepparttar 133013 Detroit media aboutrepparttar 133014 New York coaching situation. He stated, although not very emphatically, that Detroit would be his last pro coaching stop. The problem is, as he said it, he didn’t lookrepparttar 133015 camera inrepparttar 133016 eye, he stared at his feet. It’s awfully hard to tell how sincere a guy is when you can’t look into his eyes. Onrepparttar 133017 other hand, maybe he was just checking to see if there was enough tread on his soles to take him to New York?

C.J. Felton is an NBA writer who writes for http://www.hoopsavenue.com


Greatness Falls at the Hands of a True Legend

Written by Alex Fitzsimmons


Continued from page 1

Some argue it’s not Manning’s fault for his inconsistent play inrepparttar playoffs, that his defense doesn’t give him a chance to win. That may be some ofrepparttar 133002 reason. But to be truly considered an elite quarterback, Manning should be able to carryrepparttar 133003 burden ofrepparttar 133004 team even with his defenses’ shortcomings.

Inrepparttar 133005 AFC Divisional round ofrepparttar 133006 playoffs this year,repparttar 133007 Colts were held to their lowest offensive output ofrepparttar 133008 season, a meager three points againstrepparttar 133009 Patriots underrepparttar 133010 bitter Foxboro air, with a snowy white field; allrepparttar 133011 conditions which Manning loathes. Manning was held touchdownless, if that’s even a word, while running back Corey Dillon was running amok againstrepparttar 133012 soft Colts defense. And who wasrepparttar 133013 catalyst,repparttar 133014 drive,repparttar 133015 unstoppable force behindrepparttar 133016 Pats’ success? Not Head Coach Bill Belichick, not defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel, none other thanrepparttar 133017 never-break-a-sweat Tom Brady.

The debate is over: Brady is better.

But what about Manning? Settingrepparttar 133018 record for most touchdowns in a single season certainly speaks volumes, but carryingrepparttar 133019 burden of a “chronic loser” your entire career won’t help your chances forrepparttar 133020 Hall of Fame. So is Manning Hall of Fame worthy?

The initial response would be, “of course, he brokerepparttar 133021 record”. But analyzingrepparttar 133022 scenario further would create a sticky situation for Hall of Fame voters. Assuming Manning doesn’t suffer some shocking career ending injury, and his numbers stay consistent, a voter might actually consider not voting Manning intorepparttar 133023 Hall. The reason: Manning lacks a Super Bowl ring. One can argue Marino got intorepparttar 133024 Hall without any Super Bowl victories, but considering that Manning and Brady will most likely be Hall of Fame eligible at aboutrepparttar 133025 same time, could a voter actually vote for Manning knowing thatrepparttar 133026 guy next to him also vying for a Hall spot dominated him for most of his career? A sticky situation indeed.

But either way you look at it, Manning’s legacy inrepparttar 133027 football world will never berepparttar 133028 same. And his remarkable 2004 campaign will always be remembered not for his incredible reads and potent throws, on his way to record breaking status, but rather for his inability to come through when his counterpart, Brady, was flawless.

Alex Fitzsimmons is a writer for http://www.footballavenue.com


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