Nathan Scandella (personal)

Couldn't Have Happened to a Nicer Guy

Wanna know what I'm thankful for? Even in a business like professional football - where players make vastly more money than is appropriate based on their true value to society - those who can't hack it anymore don't have a job.

Last week, my childhood favorite Washington Redskins pulled the plug on Shaun Alexander. His impressive 2008 stats with the Redskins?

11 carries, 24 yards, 0 touchdowns. Oh, and he caught one pass for 9 yards.

And this egomaniac had the nerve to tell people over the offseason that he still had a lot of game left in him?

Shaun Alexander is one of those few people that I root for to fail. While guys like TO and Plaxico Burress get more publicity for their misdeeds, guys like Alexander are arguably even worse, because they're jerks, and get treated as if they're the nice guys.

Alexander was about one thing, and one thing only with the Seahawks: that was Shaun. It didn't matter if the Seahawks scored a 4th quarter touchdown to clinch a playoff spot. Because it wasn't Shaun scoring, that meant that his coach "stabbed him in the back". Are you kidding me? That particular incident came after Shaun got a chance to score on 1st down, and couldn't get into the end zone.

On numerous occasions, I pointed out how Shaun's backup, Mo Morris, had virtually the same productivity per carry as Alexander for the time they were both on the team (in other words, running behind the same linemen). I would argue that Shaun's whining about not getting the ball enough has basically sacked Morris' career. Even this year, I think the Seahawks have a hard time viewing Morris as anything but a backup, even though he's matched Julius Jones' yard-per-carry average, just as he did Alexander's. But, Shaun obviously thought Mo should be purely a backup, and Mike Holmgren gave in to his childish tantrums.

When you look at Alexander's career with the Seahawks, he really only had two great seasons. You won't even find me criticizing him for those two years (one of which was his fat contract year, by the way). But do two great years behind arguably the best O-line in football warrant the kind of respect Alexander got? I think there were 20 other backs in football that couldn't done what Shaun Alexander did with the Seahawks. Shaun wasn't the key ingredient. The tandem of Walter Jones and Steve Hutchinson was. When Hutch left, and Walter finally got his I-don't-ever-need-to-work-again paycheck, it was all over. Shaun was exposed during his last two years in Seattle as a so-so tailback.

He never could catch the football, and he was a flat-out bad blocker. You could tell it was the linemen earning those yards because Shaun didn't break many tackles, didn't make guys miss, didn't drag tacklers for extra yardage, and didn't fight to stay in bounds. He went down like a quarterback sliding to avoid taking a hit. And that still didn't keep Shaun's body from breaking down well before age 30. Couple it all with a selfish attitude ... you've got a guy who should've been out on the street a couple years earlier.

Oh well, he's there now. Of course, that street is paved with stacks of our hundred-dollar-bills. But, at least Shaun doesn't get to go out on top. And that seems just about right to me.

Posted at 02:21AM Dec 01, 2008 by Nathan in Sports  |  Comments[0]