Nothing like some off-the-field drama to sully a spectacular win yesterday.
We'll start off with the report from Mike Reiss at ESPNBoston.com. Apparently two weeks ago, the Patriots and Logan Mankins sat down to bury the hatchet and make Mankins a very rich person. They had deal estimated to be around $50 million all but ironed out, when the Patriots asked Mankins to apologize to Robert Kraft for some of the harsh words he leaked to the press earlier this summer. Mankins agreed. After all, when you publicly question the integrity of the man about to write you a check for one twentieth of a billion dollars, it's only reasonable to mend fences. After Mankins and Kraft hugged it out, the Patriots then asked for a public apology, which Mankins refused. Apparently, Logan became so enraged by this that he walked away from FIFTY MILLION DOLLARS and is now back to his earlier stance of refusing to play for New England.
Really? REALLY?
I've spelled out in detail the numerous reasons why Mankins has been a whiney turd throughout this whole hold out process. He's misplacing his anger and blaming the Patriots for his situation instead of his player's union who agreed to this funky "uncapped" year. Still, if Mankins really didn't like his deal and felt that holding out was the best way to financially secure his future for him and his family, I can certainly understand that. This recent development, however, just completely blows my mind. Again, we're talking FIFTY MILLION DOLLARS. Dr. Evil was willing to launch a nuclear attack on the world for just 2% of that haul, yet Logan Mankins won't swallow his pride and say he's sorry, when he was actually wrong?
Then there's Randy Moss, who apparently started rambling like a schizophrenic after the game about how he loves being on the Patriots, but doesn't think they want him on the team next year, how the media turn everything he says around and are out to see him fail, how Russian spies are using their x-ray vision to look at him through the walls, how there are aliens who have cloned human flesh and are living among us unnoticed and may have already infiltrated our government to hold positions of authority, how Michael Jackson faked his death and is now secretly living in the mountains of Tibet with Walt Disney, John F. Kennedy, and Princess Diana in a resort reserved only for uber-celebrities where you eat ice cream sundae's for every meal and play with puppies all day, and…
Apparently it lasted for about 16 minutes and was about as insightful and coherent as the diatribe above. Again, why are we talking about these things instead of the Patriots' thrashing of the Bengals or their upcoming game against the Jets??? Talk about a bunch of Debby Downers! I find it very telling that we had four big-time players in need of a new contract this off-season, and the two that kept their mouth shut have fat deals, while the two who continually mouth-off are still without.
Foot, meet Mouth.
