Sporting Notes

Stuff from sports:

:: Every year in the various playoff periods for each sport, I'll encounter a bit of logic that always escapes me: the idea that if your team loses in the playoffs, you should root for the team that knocked your guys out, on the basis that then you could say you lost to the best, or something like that. Personally, I think that's complete poppycock. The team that beats my team deserves to suffer a defeat ten times as stunning as that which they visited upon my own long-suffering burgh. So, Go, Ducks!

:: I continue to be amazed at all the media hand-wringing over the Bills' decision to allow Nate Clements to leave without even making an attempt to re-sign him. Look, Clements is a good player, no doubt about it, and his departure does leave a hole in the secondary. But there were too many games where his presence created a hole in the secondary, the Bills would have been crazy to commit that much money to the position of cornerback, and it all boils down to the harsh reality that the Bills weren't going to get any better by keeping him. When the choice is a guy leaving now or a guy leaving later, I'd always take the guy leaving now. I'm a big "Get it over with and move on" person.

:: For all the metaphorical ill-wishing I tend to direct on this blog toward the NFL franchise from New England, I hope it's clear that I confine my ill-wishes to just the field of play. I want those players to live happy lives off the field, and just go 0-16 on it. I certainly wouldn't ever wish anything like this upon them. Condolences to his family, friends, and teammates.