One of the few perks of reaching senior citizen status is the feeling that you can say anything you want to anyone you want at any time you want. If you don’t believe that, try interrupting a late-morning bingo game at any senior citizens center in Florida.
But ole Bud Adams may have crossed that line last Sunday when, both during and after the game, he used a single finger to suggest strongly to the Buffalo Bills fans, players and coaching staff that they commence doing something which the vast majority of physiologists claim to be anatomically impossible.
No one is really sure why the owner of the Tennessee Titans decided it would be a good idea to flip the bird from the owner’s box during the game, then repeat the process on the field afterward. Maybe a prankster had sneaked into Adams’s office during the owner’s afternoon nap and messed with his bucket list, replacing “Scale the Matterhorn” with “Without talking, tell the Bills where they can go.”
What made the gesture even more puzzling was that the salutes began while the Titans were laying 24 fourth-quarter points on the Bills, on their way to a 41-17 victory. Tennessee was laying 9, and maybe Adams and Buffalo owner Ralph Wilson had a gentleman’s wager.
Adams, who was fined $250,000 by the league, has apologized but hasn’t really explained exactly why he felt the need to tell the Bills where to go. But one thing is clear – youtube will make certain that Wilson’s animated greeting will from this point on be the gold standard for digital advice.
Tennis brats Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe brought the middle finger into style in the 1970s and ‘80s, but prior to Adams the two most famous NFL middle-finger displays occurred decades apart.
In 2006 Michael Vick was walking off the field after a bad home loss to New Orleans when he was caught on camera telling the fans in Atlanta exactly what they could do with their catcalls. That brought only more catcalls, followed by the standard apology written by Vick’s agent.
But until Adams the best salute came in a Monday Night game back in the 1970s.
The crew in the TV booth was Howard Cosell, Frank Gifford and Don Meredith.
“You have 25 to 30 million people watching, and Howard was pontificating on what a dull game this was,” Gifford recalled years later. “Our director, Chet Forte, found somebody sleeping in the stands in the corner of the end zone. Just as we pulled an extreme close-up and just as Howard was describing how dull this game really was, this little Houston Oiler fan woke up, saw the lens of the camera from across the field with the little red light, and he immediately gave us a we're No. 1 signal. Don Meredith told Howard: 'How about that Howard, they still think they're No. 1.’ ”
Questions surround Belichick’s decision
Don Corleone received more criticism from his inner circle than Bill Belichick gets from fans in New England, but the reaction around Foxboro in mostly negative to coach’s decision to go for it on 4th-and-2 from Pats’ own 27 late in the Indianapolis game. But advancednflstats.com, a web site devoted to complicated statistical analysis of pro football, reports that Belichick actually made the right call, and that going for it gave New England a 79 percent chance to win the game. There was some ointment on the wound for Pats backers – getting 3, NE had enough of a cushion to cover the 35-34 final. Losing in Indianapolis probably means that NE will probably have to suit up on wild card weekend, since a first-round bye is unlikely given Indy’s three-game lead and Cincinnati’s 7-2 record.
Falcons’ flight pattern disrupted
Something is amiss in Atlanta, where the Falcons were considered a lock to at least replicate last season’s 11-5 record but are scuffling along at 5-4 and will probably be life and death to just get back to the playoffs. The Falcons get 7 in New York Sunday against the rested Giants (bye week), and while their primary concern is on the defensive side of the ball, Matt Ryan’s propensity to throw the ball to players on the other team (8 INTs in the last four games) has raised some eyebrows.
On top of everything, Michael Turner has no idea when he can return from a high ankle sprain. Fortunately, backup Jerious Norwood is returning to the team after recovering from his own injury.
When will they ever learn?
Do the Bengals have a trouble-maker quota that they have to hit? That appears to be the case. After clearing out bad apples and finally regaining control of the locker room, Cincinnati management has brought in Larry Johnson, whose foul mouth and tendency to spit on women in KC nightclubs got him a one-way ticket out of Kansas City.
Johnson brings a train-load of baggage to a team that has done its best to shed its image as a place to go for NFL players who aren’t liked even by their own entourages. Wonder if that injury to Cedric Benson is worse than Bengals are letting on. Cincy gives 9.5 at Oakland this Sunday.