If You Want Michael Sam, You Should Want Richie Incognito Too

If you want Michael Sam on your team, you should want Richie Incognito first

The title of this post seems to beg for hypothetical controversy.  First, Incognito drops the non-four-letter F-word.  Then someone calls someone else the N-word and before you know it ESPN is crawling with stupid stories that we will be sick of in t-minus 30 seconds.  But, lets think about the reason that this has to be true.  

First, lets look in to who these players are.

Michael Sam is a football player from the University of Missouri.  He came out of nowhere to have a career season in his last season of eligibility with 48 total tackles--19 for loss and 11.5 sacks.  He was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Year for this past season, resulting in initial draft projections in rounds 3-5.  He recently came out as being gay.

----I started writing this before Michael Sam had an absolutely abysmal performance at the combine.  If he gets drafted at all, it will be a miracle.  4.91 40 and only 17 reps on the bench.  None of his other performances even put him in the top 15 of defensive linemen----

Richie Incognito is a ten year NFL veteran from the University of Nebraska.  He was a 3rd round selection by the St. Louis Rams in the 2005 NFL Draft.  Since then, he's gone on to play 102 career games (all of them as a starter) at almost every position on the offensive line.  The high point of his professional career thus far came in the form of a Pro-Bowl selection during the 2011-2012 season.  Incognito has been in trouble as of late with physical and emotional abuse accusations from former teammate Jonathan Martin.

----Disclaimer----I do not condone what Richie Incognito did or said to any of his teammates.  However, I think the things he said are things that are said in all NFL locker rooms.  Incognito is a crude, nasty individual; but, the man is a very good offensive lineman.

----Disclaimer #2----I am NOT comparing being gay to being a racist or bigoted.  I'm highlighting the hypocrisy that is happening in the NFL right now.

Why would you want to put a gay player on the same team with one of the most bigoted, racist people to probably ever play in the NFL?  The answer can be found in something Michael Sam said in an article from Sports Illustrated.  "...I wish you guys would see me as Michael Sam the football player instead of Michael Sam the gay football player."  In the same article, Jets coach Rex Ryan stated, "If the young man's a good football player and a good teammate, that's all we ask." (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nfl/news/20140222/michael-sam-combine-nfl-draft)

----One could argue that Incognito is not a "good teammate" as stated above.  However, let the Miami Dolphins players speak to this one.  Everyone except Jonathan Martin has backed Incognito from the start.  That paints a different picture than the one the media or the Wells report.

If we as fans and media members are to view Michael Sam as a football player and ignore his life off the field, we should be doing the same for Richie Incognito.  Incognito has proven his worth on the football field. If skill on the field is the most important thing, then Richie Incognito should be scooped up as soon as the Dolphins inevitably release him.

Disclaimer #2----I am NOT comparing being gay to being a racist or bigoted.  I'm highlighting the hypocrisy that is happening in the NFL right now.

Vikings 2013 Draft

March is my favorite month of the year.  NCAA Basketball hits its peak, baseball is just starting to be realistic, the NBA is getting to the end of the season, and the NFL is in one of its most exciting seasons:  draft season.

After talking with my cohorts from Fan Interference (now on 94.5 KCFS every Wednesday from 8-9pm), I began to think about which positions and players the Vikings should focus on in this upcoming draft.  It's pretty obvious to me that the number one priority for the Vikings is WR.  As it looks right now, the 2013 Vikings will only have three remaining WR's from last years roster and it doesn't look likely that unrestricted free-agents Jerome Simpson and Michael Jenkins will be re-signed.  So, who do the Vikings look to get in the first round?

Assuming he falls to the Vikings (which he probably wont), I think it's a no-brainer to take Cordarrelle Patterson out of Tennessee.  This guy is a physical freak and he's exactly the kind of guy the Vikings need to take some pressure off of Percy Harvin in the receiving game.  Most people have him going 8 overall to the Bills, but, I could see Buffalo going many ways with their draft so I can't put a 100% approval stamp on that just yet.

Let's go further down the list here to see who else could fall to Minnesota.  Tavon Austin from West Virginia could be a legitimate option as a late first round pick.  Another guy mentioned is Keenan Allen  out of California.  I think Allen is a much more dangerous pick--he tore his knee up in the 2012 season--but a much more plausible pick.  While Austin provides speed and shifty-ness, the Vikings already have a player like that in Percy Harvin.  Keenan Allen is a 6'3 195lb deep threat that will surely help free up Harvin from double coverage and give Christian Ponder someone to run a route thats more than 15 yards.

What happens if the receiver we want isn't there?  The receiving corps is pretty flat and deep this year, so picking a guy up in the second round is a very plausible move if the aforementioned WR's are off the board.

If you've been a Vikings fan for the past, well, forever, you know that after almost every season you're saying, "we could get better in the secondary".  Well, this year is no different.  It would be beautiful if someone like Xavier Rhodes or Desmond Trufant would fall all the way down, but that is highly unlikely.  I think it's a pretty safe bet that Darius Slay or Robert Alford would be available at that point in the draft, and I think both of those guys would be solid picks if they were the top guy on the Viking's board at the time.

The rest of the draft could be filled with anything from trying to bolster our aging interior defensive line to gathering skills players like the team depends on it (because it kind of does).  However, don't be surprised to see the Vikings get a QB somewhere around rounds 4-6.  There isn't a lot of good QB's to be had this year, but Joe Webb has obviously shown that he is NOT the answer at quarterback if Ponder goes down.  Matt Scott out of Arizona is a guy who has really shown some upside at the combine.  I think if he's around, expect the Vikings to pick him up maybe as high as Round 3.

I'm not sure how widely--if at all--this is read, but if you have comments or opinions on what the Vikings should do, please leave them!

Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player to ever live.  I know LeBron is arguably the best of the 2000's--personally I'll make the case for Kobe here--but none of them come close to the dominance that Michael Jordan showed in his career.

Put your mind around these stats:

30.1 ppg - 6.2 rpg - 5.3 apg

He only scored under 2000 points in a season 4 times; both seasons with the Wizards, the strike shortened 94-95 season, and the season he broke his foot and still came back to score 63 in a playoff game.

On top of his offensive efforts, he was named to five NBA All-Defensive First Teams, as well as being the Defensive Player of the Year in 1988.

I'm not going to keep listing stats because anyone can go look them up for themselves, however, keep those stats in mind when you think about this.

No other player was ever or probably will be as dominant as Michael Jordan.  When the Bulls needed a shot, MJ took it, ask Ehlo or Bryon Russell. Of course, other people have been go-to guys for their teams (Magic, Bird, LeBron, Kobe, Oscar) but none of those seem to have the effect that MJ did. 

These are my ramblings as I sit here at Coffea.  Looking forward to putting more coherent thoughts on here soon.