Funk Sports Community Expanding Monday

This Monday the Funk Sports community will expand with a new Funk Sports page and a Funk Baseball page.

Also coming soon will be a few team oriented blogs.

In the meantime, check out a friend site of Funk Sports, Loaded Fries, a media website which Funk Sports contributes to.

Please continue to check Funk Sports throughout Super Bowl week for the best insight on the internet about the biggest game of the season.

Kurt Warner Retires: The Time Has Come For Leinart

Today the 12 year career of Kurt Warner came to an end. I can't say I'm surprised, but I will say a few things about Warner.

First things first, any debate over whether or not Warner is a Hall of Famer is irrational. Though Warner only had (being generous) six good seasons, five of those seasons resulted in a playoff berth, four of those seasons ended with a Pro Bowl, three of those seasons ended with a Super Bowl berth, two included MVP awards, and one ended with a Super Bowl victory and game MVP award. In other words, when Warner was good he was great.

For his career, his numbers compare well to Troy Aikman's, Jim Kelly's, and Terry Bradshaw's; all Hall of Famers.

To sum things up for Warner, before 2007 he wasn't going to be a Hall of Famer. After 2008 he looked like he was going to be one. Now after 2009, Kurt Warner is definitely a Hall of Famer, and he's one of the rare instances where a players talent may not have been astonishing, but his will and positive attitude helped him achieve the highest level of success there is to achieve in professional football.

I will make one last comment about Warner, and it is a thought to chew on in your head. How much did having Orlando Pace, Torry Holt, Isaac Bruce, Marshall Faulk, Larry Fitzgerald, and Anquan Boldin help Warner get to the Hall of Fame? All were All Pro talents without Warner. Warner was never an All Pro talent without them. I'm not saying Warner doesn't belong in the Hall of Fame, because he does. I'm just wondering if Kerry Collins, Drew Bledsoe, or Vinny Testaverde could have put up the same numbers in the same systems with the same results.

Anyway, the real story in Warner's retirement now becomes Matt Leinart. This past season Leinart had to fill in for Warner a few times and looked "alright," but for the most part his career has been a disaster. And while his draft day partners Vince Young, Reggie Bush, and Jay Cutler haven't exactly been excellent, compared to Leinart they've been Hall of Famers.

Part of the problem for Leinart is that the Cardinals quarterback job has never been "his." In 2006, Leinart's rookie year, he started on the bench but performed well in some instances. Leinart entered 2007 looking to take the next step, but lost his job midway through the season never to regain it. From 2007 to 2009 Kurt Warner revitalized a Cardinals franchise that had been dead for decades, leading the franchise to it's first Super Bowl, and in turn keeping Leinart on the bench.

Now Leinart enters 2010 as the probable candidate to take over the Cardinals quarterback job, and in all reality the franchise has no choice. The Cardinals have invested too much money over the past four seasons in Leinart to not find out if they already have their future quarterback. If the Cardinals can satisfy Boldin's needs, Leinart will inherit the most explosive offense in the NFL in a division that doesn't look to be more difficult in 2010 than it was in 2009.

In other words things are looking good for Matt Leinart.

2010 is actually a big year for all of those 2006 to 2007 quarterbacks. Vince Young and Jay Cutler need to prove themselves in Tennessee and Chicago, a failure in 2010 could lead to a new team in 2011 for either. Brady Quinn and JaMarcus Russell of the 2007 draft need to prove themselves in 2010 or both will be unemployed come 2011. But nobody has the pressure that Leinart has entering 2010, after all, Leinart is inheriting the undeniable best team of the bunch.

Anything short of a division title next year and Matt Leinart's tenure as the QB in Arizona becomes unsuccessful. The pressure is on for Leinart, the Cardinals coaching staff, and the Cardinals franchise in general to get back to the elite level of the NFC next year.

And that, at the end of the day, is why Kurt Warner was a Hall of Fame quarterback.

Norv vs Wade: Just One of the Many Reasons to Watch the Pro Bowlt

For some coaches, coaching the Pro Bowl sounds right. Jon Gruden in 2001. Tony Dungy in 2004. Bill Belichick in 2007. Bill Cowher in 2005. Mike Shanahan in 2006. Andy Reid almost every year.

But Wade Phillips and Norv Turner? Is this really the year pair those two in the Pro Bowl? Only two weeks after both of their teams crushed the hearts of their fans, Norv and Wade, perhaps the two most ridiculed head coaches of the past three seasons, will square off as the head coaches of the NFC and AFC Pro Bowl squads.

Perhaps that explains the record number of player withdrawals we're seeing this year.

Norv and Wade "earned" the right to coach the Pro Bowl by being the teams in the Divisional Round to lose with the best regular season record.

Ouch.

So instead of giving the Pro Bowl to the conference championship loser, the NFL, with it's new week-before-the-Super-Bowl format has decided to create inspiration for under performing workers everywhere by giving the Pro Bowl coaching duties to the two coaches who flopped in the divisional round.

Makes sense to me.

But look on the bright side for Wade and Norv; the two have managed to keep the jobs they were unqualified for when they were hired, continue to fail, but continue to keep their jobs. Heck, as long as the Chargers and Cowboys dangle in mediocrity it's going to be hard to get rid of either of them.

And maybe, just maybe, it we're very, very lucky, this Wade vs Norv thing can become an annual contest.

And more players will withdraw.

Projecting the All Decade Team

This Sunday at the Pro Bowl the NFL will commemorate the 00’s, a decade that saw the NFL go from America’s third favorite (and at times arguably 4th) sport, to not only America’s number one sport, but perhaps it’s greatest passion, with the All-Decade team.

I’ve followed the same format that the NFL uses to commemorate each decade, and though this format leaves a lot of great players off the list (only two QB spots saved a huge head ache and a lot of debate), when you see this list of names the majority of the players probably already have some blacksmith (I just wanted to use the word blacksmith) working on their bust for Canton.

An important thing to note when looking over this list is that the All Decade team is not a marathon as much as it is a sprint. The list commemorates the players who performed the best this decade. Two to three years of dominating at your position are more valuable than six good seasons and one great one (see Jamal Lewis, Edgerrin James, and Curtis Martin vs Adrian Peterson and Marshall Faulk).

The 2000's Funk Football All Decade Team:

WR Terrell Owens

WR Randy Moss

WR Marvin Harrison
WR Larry Fitzgerald
TE Tony Gonzalez
TE Antonio Gates
T Jonathan Ogden
T Walter Jones
T Orlando Pace
T Chris Samuels
G Steve Hutchinson
G Will Shields
G Larry Allen
G Alan Faneca
C Kevin Mawae
C Olin Kreutz
QB Peyton Manning
QB Tom Brady
RB LaDainian Tomlinson
RB Shaun Alexander
RB Marshall Faulk
RB Adrian Peterson
FB Lorenzo Neal

DE Michael Strahan
DE Julius Peppers
DE Jason Taylor
DE Dwight Freeney
DT Shaun Rogers
DT Warren Sapp
DT Tommie Harris
DT Richard Seymour
LB Ray Lewis
LB Brian Urlacher
LB Zach Thomas
LB Derrick Brooks
LB James Harrison
LB Joey Porter
CB Champ Bailey
CB Ty Law
CB Ronde Barber
CB Charles Woodson
S Ed Reed
S Troy Polamalu
S Brian Dawkins
S John Lynch

P Jeff Feagles
P Craig Hentrich
K Adam Vinatieri
K Jeff Wilkins
PR Devin Hester
PR Ed Reed
KR Dante Hall
KR Josh Cribbs

Coach Bill Belichick
Coach Tony Dungy

A Final Word on Favre

If you have followed Funk Football during the 2009 NFL season you understand that I have been critical of Vikings Quarterback Brett Favre all season. Much of that criticism stemmed from his 2008 collapse with the Jets, and his inability to win the "big game" from 1998 to 2007.

Throughout most of 2009 Brett Favre shut me up. But in the game where it mattered most, Brett Favre resorted to "classic-Favre" from and threw another game losing interception in a huge game. In comparison to 2003 and 2007, Favre's other game-losing-interception-overtime-games, this one may have hurt the most because Favre played well all season leading up to this game. Unfortunately, Favre's interception in the 2009 NFC Championship game may have been the worst of his career.

There's no denying that Brett Favre is one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history, but it's also hard to argue Favre as a top 5 quarterback of all time, as well. Favre's statistics and "streak" are great and extremely commendable; because those accomplishments belong to Favre it's perfectly fine to include him in the "best ever" debate.

But let's be honest: Joe Montana, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, John Elway, those players don't make the same mistakes that Favre made in the NFC title game.

Those stats? Chances are Peyton Manning will surpass all of them, including the games started streak. There is one Favre record that Manning will not come cloes to though; All time leader in interceptions.

Brett Favre coming back for a 19th season did help cement his legacy as the NFL's biggest name. To date no other player has received the in-sport celebrity status that Brett Favre has obtained. The season also served as a pallet for Favre to show what he might have been able to do with a more complete team over the past ten years.

But the truth remains that Favre is an NFL quarterback who in 19 seasons won one Super Bowl, a game in which he wasn't the MVP, and has a lot more memorable playoff losses than he does wins. In Green Bay, Aaron Rodgers hasn't missed a beat in succession to Favre, and the Packers offense is more potent in Favre's departure than it was with #4 in 2007.

If Manning gets ring #2 this year, Brett Favre will undeniably fall out of the top five all time (behind Montana, Graham, Unitas, Elway, and Manning in no particular order), and he may also at some point find himself staring at the back of Tom Brady's head, as well. This all may sound ridiculous to you considering that I'm ridiculing Favre by putting him in the top .00001% of quarterbacks ever to play the game, but if being #1 ever wasn't Favre's reason for coming back, than what was?

Essentially, Favre's legacy will become his longevity. Favre's three MVP's were great, but Manning has surpassed that. Favre's one Super Bowl ring is completely pedestrian. When his name fades away from the #1 spot in the record book, much like Dan Marino, Brett Favre will begin to slip further and further down the ranks of all time quarterbacks until he joins the ranks of names like Marino, Bart Starr, and Troy Aikman.

And if you really think about Brett Favre, at his best and at his worst, that's exactly where he belongs.

Is Drew Brees The Greatest Free Agent Signing Ever?

Entering the 2006 free agent market, the Miami Dolphins controlled their own destiny of who they would choose as the high profile free agent quarterback to take their franchise into the future. The obvious choice was between former Minnesota Vikings quarterback Daunte Culpepper who ended his 2005 season with a devastating knee-injury-trifecta and Drew Brees who ended his 2005 season with a shoulder injury in the Pro Bowl.

Both Brees and Culpepper were established Pro Bowlers, but Culpeppers amazing 2000 and 2004 seasons gave him the advantage over Brees who was far more erratic in his professional career in San Diego. Still, many medics warned that Culpeppers knee injury was far more serious than Brees' shoulder injury.

Still, the Dolphins sided with Culpepper, a decision they regretted tremendously by week two, while Brees immediately signed a long term deal with the New Orleans Saints. That season the Dolphins lined themselves up for a top ten pick while the Saints went to the NFC Championship game.

Since 2006 Brees has developed into a perennial Pro Bowl quarterback and has been an MVP candidate in three of his four seasons with the Saints, throwing for over 5,000 yards in 2008. If it wasn't for Peyton Manning, a strong argument could be made for Brees as the best quarterback in the NFL since 2005.

Next Sunday Drew Brees will face Peyton Manning in Super Bowl XLIV; the game will be the Saint franchises first Super Bowl, and removes the stain of "worst franchise in the NFL" from the New Orleans football team. Brees' ability to take the Saints from perennial loser to contend also raises the question, is Brees the greatest free agent signing in NFL history?

The answer is definitely "not yet." But Brees could be on his way.

For me personally, I can't think of the phrase "NFL free agent signing" without immediately thinking of Reggie White, who in 1993 joined an on-the-verge Green Bay Packers team and helped take them over the top. In White's six seasons in Green Bay he notched close to 70 sacks, won an NFL defensive player of the year award, and lead the Green Bay defense to its first Super Bowl title since Super Bowl II.

After White, the next trend setter in free agency is Curtis Martin, who in 1998 left New England to join his former coaching staff in New York. Martin signed a then-tremendous six year thirty-six million dollar deal, and immediately made an impact leading the Jets to the AFC Championship game in his first season in the Parcells coached backfield. From 1998 to 2005 Curtis Martin was a guarantee for 1,000 yards every season, earning multiple Pro Bowls and a rushing title. Most Jet fans would agree that though he wasn't drafted by the team, Curtis Martin is the second greatest Jet of all time. Second only to the immortal Joe Namath.

Signing a 33 year old journeyman quarterback is usually not worth mentioning, but in 1999 an old Rich Gannon joined a young Jon Gruden in Oakland and history was made. In Gannon, the Raiders got arguably their most prolific quarterback in franchise history, an MVP, Pro Bowler, and Super Bowl quarterback. Unfortunately for the Raiders, they had the right quarterback in place, but Gruden was on the opposing sideline for Super Bowl XXXVII when he lead the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to victory over Gannon's Raiders. Still, without the Gannon signing of 1999, chances are the Raiders never get to the Super Bowl that year, and Gruden doesn't have the profile to sign with the Bucs in 2002. Imagine that.

In 2005 Plaxico Burress jumped ship from Pittsburgh to New York to become sophomore quarterback Eli Mannings go-to-guy. That season Ben Roethlisberger, another sophomore, lead the Steelers to an improbable Super Bowl XL victory while Burress' team was embarrassed at home in the snow on wild card weekend. Over the next three seasons Burress' presence helped Eli Manning develop into one of the leagues premiere passes, and two years later in Super Bowl XLII it was Burress who caught the perfection-ending touchdown to bury the Patriots dreams of being the NFL's first 19-0 team; granting the New York Giants their Super Bowl victory, and establishing Burress as one of the leagues elite wide receivers. Unfortunately for Burress, a gun related incident at a club in 2008 ended his what-could-have-been-hall-of-fame career, and sent Burress to prison.

Drew Brees' 2006 signing definitely belongs on this list. If Brees wins the Super Bowl, chances are one day it will probably be considered number one. Heck, if the Brees wins Super Bowl XLIV that signing will probably be number one the second the clock ticks to 0:00. But for now, it's not quite White or Burress considering they have rings, Gannon has an MVP, and Martin is a Hall of Famer.

Though what Brees has done for the Saints franchise is immeasurable, and somewhere a Chargers fan is pissed (and lets not get started with those Dolphins fans).

Tebow Turns It Around For Day 2

Yesterday, while the entire sports blogosphere was destroying his pro career before he was even drafted, Tim Tebow was apparently receiving medical treatment for a throat ailment.

Today, Tebow came back and performed at a much higher level. Tebow's coach in the Senior Bowl, Dolphins head coach Tony Sparano stated that Tebow looked a lot more comfortable under center and his release was becoming quicker. Tebow has also done well processing information, and learning the playbook.
What this shows is just how smart and coachable Tim Tebow is. Though it's impossible to guarantee that Tebow will translate his talents to the pro game, but at this point in time things are starting to look better for Tebow. Rebounding from a nationally publicized "awful" day of practice is the first of the endless hurdles that Tim Tebow will have to overcome in order to become a successful professional quarterback.

For everybodys sake, let's hope that Tebow excels or fails sooner than later this way stories like this one become less relevant.