ESPN and ESPN.com Need Fixing

The pre-game news should pick up tomorrow, as it always does on Wednesdays, but in the mean time, here are some other tidbits and random thoughts on this rather blah Tuesday.

The Monday Night broadcast team is pretty annoying. Mike Tirico is fine, let him stay, but Ron Jaworski and Tony Kornheiser along side him could be changed. You need Tirico (well you don’t need him but you need a play by play voice) so pencil him in. But why do they need three people in the booth? It seems like Monday Night tradition of recent years at least, but NBC, FOX, and CBS all do a fine job with just a duo calling the game. And since Kornheiser has zero plays under his belt in the NFL and is better off arguing with Michael Wilbon at 5:30 on ESPN, I think we all know who is the one who needs to take a hike.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love Tony Kornheiser and love the job he does on PTI, but MNF is just not for him. He is constantly contradicting himself and also making obvious observations, which sometime show his lack of knowledge of the game. I don’t think ESPN is about to pull Kornheiser from their MNF broadcast in the middle of the season and they probably won’t pull him as long as they own the rights to the Monday night game, but Tony would be better off in studio with WIlbon.

Seems ESPN.com has finally come around and ranked the G-Men atop their Power Rankings and it only took them four weeks to get their top seed correct. But here is my bone to pick…

It seems the world is coming to their senses that the Cowboys are overrated. But PLEASE STOP WITH THE LOVE OF THE PITTSBURGH STEELERS (that felt good to get off my chest). The Steelers are 3-1 and congratulations to them, they beat the Browns (1-3), Joey Flacco and a somewhat Willis McGahee-less Ravens, and the Houston Texans. You know who they lost to? The Eagles. And while the Steelers are ranked 5th by ESPN, the Eagles sit at No. 9.

The Eagles have two losses. One to the Cowboys and the other to the Bears without Brian Westbrook and without sensible goal line coaching and without two missed FGs from David Akers.

But not only are the Steelers ahead of the Eagles, they are also ahead of the Redskins (ranked 6th), the same Redskins whose only loss is to the Giants and have beaten Dallas. To quote the famous Mugatu of Zoolander, “I feel like I’m taking crazy pills.”

And what my be better than the Steelers fantastic ranking is that of the San Diego Chargers. Enough is enough with this team. They lost to the Panthers. They lost to the Broncos. They beat the Jets. And they beat the Raiders after trailing 15-0 at halftime. They are not a good football team. They are not a contender and they do not deserve to be ranked 8th, they don’t even deserve to be ranked 10th or 12th or 15th.

You know what, I am so sick and tired of the Chargers that here are the REAL power rankings in the NFL. Not some crap ESPN has created from eight different writers. Which brings me another pont…how can you have power rankings created by eight different people? This isn’t a coaches poll or a writer’s poll? This is the power rankings and there should be one voice.

1. NEW YORK GIANTS
They are the defending champs and they are 3-0. And they are in first place in the NFC East, the best division in football.

2. WASHINGTON REDSKINS
Their only loss is to the Giants. See this ranking system actually makes sense.

3. TENNESSEE TITANS
They are undefeated and the best team in the AFC right now. Who would have thought that was possible?

4. DALLAS COWBOYS
Still an elite team even with the loss, but they aren’t undefeated and lost to the Redskins who lost to the Giants. Don’t you love logic with your power rankings?

5. BUFFALO BILLS
Also undefeated, but they have had weak competition.

6. PHILADELPHIA EAGLES
They are from the best division, but that loss to the Bears hurts, even though they were missing Mr. Westbrook.

7. PITTSBURGH STEELERS
A better rank for the Steelers who aren’t as good as advertised and the whole world will find this out before the year is over.

8. CAROLINA PANTHERS
A big surprise, but they keep on winning.

9. JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS
A good team with nice back-to-back wins and one of them against the Colts.

10. TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS
They are going to have to win their division to get into the playoffs with both wild cards coming from the Beast.

11. INDIANAPOLIS COLTS
Still the Colts and still have the older Manning. Expect a big run from them now that they are healthy.

12. CHICAGO BEARS
Another surprise, but two big wins (IND and PHI). They are good enough to win the North.

13. NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS
They don’t have their golden boy QB and the only place for them to go on these rankings is down.

14. DENVER BRONCOS
O-VER-RA-TED, CLAP CLAP, CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP

15. BALTIMORE RAVENS
Great defense, so-so offense. Should have beaten the Steelers.

16. NEW ORLEANS SAINTS
Who knows what the deal is with this team. One week best team in the league, next week the worse, so a 16th ranking is perfect.

17. GREEN BAY PACKERS
They better hope their new QB is not seriously injured or their 2008 season will be over.

18. SAN DIEGO CHARGERS
Now, let’s see. Here they are at #18 and what do you know, they haven’t beaten anyone ranked higher than them. Wow, I guess it really isn’t that hard to use common sense to make power rankings.

19. NEW YORK JETS
What a gongshow that game was. Too bad they don’t play the Cardinals anymore times this season.

20. ARIZONA CARDINALS
Embarrassing show at the Meadowlands. G-Men up next.

21. SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS
I can see this team rising on the rankings.

22. MINNESOTA VIKINGS
Without their RB, they would be 31st or 32nd on this list.

23. SEATTLE SEAHAWKS
This team has gradually gone downhill since their loss to the Steelers in the Super Bowl.

24. ATLANTA FALCONS
Surprisingly not as bad as I thought they would be. Same goes for their QB.

25. MIAMI DOLPHINS
They get some credit for beating the Patriots.

26. CLEVELAND BROWNS
Better than they are playing.

27. OAKLAND RAIDERS
Well they fired their coach today. Better luck next year.

28. KANSAS CITY CHIEFS
Good to see them get in the win column.

29. HOUSTON TEXANS
Not a very good football team.

30. CINCINNATI BENGALS
They better get their QB back fast.

31. DETROIT LIONS
Gonna be a long season in the Motor City.

32. ST. LOUIS RAMS
Gonna be an even longer season in St. Louis.

So now that my short post has turned into a full fledged power ranking, I think that is enough for now.