Brad Childress continues to hold back the Vikings

Before the Vikings lackluster effort against Carolina, most sportswriters and analysts had this team pegged as a legitimate Super Bowl contender. What's not to like? Good QB playing out of his mind, a top RB, a great O-line, an even better D-line, quality linebackers and a good secondary. Oh right, the coach is a moron. We've known this for a while now, but I think some people got wrapped up in how good the talent is in Minnesota that we forgot that the coach will find a way to ruin this. And he will. Mark my words. Brad Childress will cost this team a playoff game. Childress coaches not to lose; all of his games seem to be decided by a field goal. That's no way to coach.

Then there's this gem courtesy of ESPN.com:
Childress said that a quarterback who makes “five checks in a game or six checks in a game” has gone overboard. He added: “Typically the idea with a quarterback in this offense, you’re not going to the line of scrimmage looking to change the play. Because then you end up seeing ghosts.”

Um, you know Brad, Peyton Manning makes 5 or 6 checks in a drive and his team is undefeated. Experienced QBs should be allowed to call their own plays and audible. It's one of the main advantages to having a seasoned QB. Peyton Manning is great partially because he is his own offensive coordinator. Gregg Easterbrook on ESPN.com goes into this a bit more in his TMQ column. If you want to see what happens when a control-freak coach handcuffs a great veteran QB, pop in tapes of mid to late 90s Dolphins games to see how mediocre Dan Marino was under Jimmy Johnson.

Brad will ruin this team. It was a big mistake to give this guy a contract extension. What does that team do after this year when Favre retires again and they're left with Tavares Jackson and Sage Rosenfels as their QBs? I guess no worries, because Brad will call the plays, make the checks, study the film and not see any ghosts out there.

mel kiper is an idiot and kobe is the best player in the NBA

Mel Kiper doesn't watch football. I'm convinced. His draft grades are always a mess. He's a terrible writer. I'm no great shakes, but then again, I'm not getting paid to write for ESPN Insider. His latest column has him revisiting his draft grades. He has the gall to say that the Dolphins rookie CBs, who are starters for a team competing for the playoffs, are good players with low ceilings. Low ceilings? Really, Mel Kiper? If starting and showing flashes of shutdown dominance are signs of a low ceiling, then I wonder if there's any player in the NFL with a high ceiling. My main problem with all of these types of articles, and really the basis of Kiper's existence as a sports analyst, is that you can't tell if a player will be good or not in the first year. You need a good three years to evaluate a player. Look at someone like Cadillac Williams or even better Michael Clayton. These guys were great their first year, and I'm sure Kiper was raving about how good the Bucs were at drafting those years. But then you look at the rest of their careers and it's been all downhill. Cadillac peaked about three games into his NFL career and hasn't averaged more than 4 yards per carry since his rookie year. Clayton has been even worse. He was a rising star when he caught 80 passes for 1,193 yards. Since then, he's caught 139 passes for 1717 yards over the course of 5 seasons. This year, he's caught 14 passes for 204 yards. He's put up a goose-egg 3 times this year. Clearly, he's a bust. But you wouldn't have known that after his first year.

In other news, Kobe is the best NBA player today. Sorry, LeBron James, but show me a ring and you'll get the top spot. Kobe is the guy every other NBA player looks up to now. The scary thing is that Kobe is better this year than last year. This is a guy that scores 40 points with a torn tendon in his index finger. He added at least 4 or 5 post moves this offseason to bring his repertoire up to something like 5,016. If you watch LeBron, you'll realize quickly he's the most talented NBA player, but he hasn't yet put it together. He's getting there, but I'm a bit disappointed that we're not see LeBron destroy people in the post more often. I know, I know: Kobe has the advantage of playing on a better team. The Cavs are very mediocre without their star. Shaq is 35 pounds overweight, Mo Williams is a third banana playing a second banana's role, Anthony Parker's a bench player playing a starter and the Big Z looks and moves like he's 40. But I haven't seen the King take a stranglehold of this team and impose his will on these guys.