My Peyton Manning/Redskins Conundrum

Us Redskins fans have been through this before.  Sign a big money, aging free agent.  The player comes here and sucks total ass.  He doesn't live up to the huge bloated contract he received, eventually gets cut, and we have millions of dollars in dead cap that hamstrings the franchise for years.  In fact, the only aging free agent player I can recall working out over the last decade is London Fletcher.

So everyone is saying Peyton Manning is coming to the Redskins or that the Redskins must sign Peyton Manning if and when the Colts decide to cut ties with him.  But what about his health?

He is 36 years old and has missed a whole year after having surgery to repair a bulging disc in his neck in May of 2011.  After that surgery was deemed "uneventful" he had to have a neck fusion.  Neck fusion does not sound good.

An ESPN article I read states: "An anterior fusion procedure usually involves making an incision in the front of the neck, removing soft disk tissue between the vertebrae and fusing the bones together with a graft."

Ouch.  So that is 3 neck surgeries in under two years according to ESPN (with these two being his second and third).  His prognosis for recovery is "Good".

So reports come out last week that Peyton is throwing, but doesn't look like an NFL quarterback due to nerve damage he may or may have not have suffered.  He looks "noodle-armed" which in football terms means that you throw like a bitch. 

Now before these surgeries, Peyton Manning looked like Peyton Manning.   Can he get back to that?  If he works from now until training camp, will he be ready?  How long will it take?  Can it be done?

We as Redskins fans suffered through the Rex Grossman/John Beck show this past year, and it wasn't pretty.  So bringing in a first ballot Hall of Famer seems like it'd be a no-brainer, as long as he was deemed healthy and could return to his previous form.  And he would have to be on a non-cap-killer, incentive laden contract.

However, he is 36 years old, is as mobile as a statue, and will be playing behind the Redskins O-Line, with the Redskins offensive weapons.

Sounds to me like a recipe for disaster.  So I am officially AGAINST the idea of bringing Peyton Manning to the Redskins.  I would rather draft and develop a young guy.

With that said, I would bring Peyton Manning to be a quarterback of the Redskins if he was on a cheap deal for a year or two (given he's healthy) and to groom Robert Griffin, III.  Draft RG3, and hell yeah he can learn from Manning.

That's the only way I could stomach him being in the burgundy and gold.  Then if he played like shit due to his health, bench his ass and throw RG3 out there.  Then you'd have arguably the best QB ever coaching you from the sidelines.

What do you think?

Tarantino Should still make a Vega Bros. Movie

I am a huge fan of Quentin Tarantino.  And while I'm only casual fan of Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction is probably one of my favorite movies of all time.  I think it'd be a dynamite idea to do a Pulp Fiction/Reservoir Dogs spin off/prequel following the Vega Brothers.   I would probably pass out if I heard he was doing a movie where Vincent Vega and Vic Vega had an adventure (or misadventure).  For those that don't know, Michael Madsen's Vic Vega from Reservoir Dogs and John Travolta's Vincent Vega from Pulp Fiction are brothers.  Quentin Tarantino had teased for a long time that this film or a film like it could definitely be a possibility.  Tarantino started saying that it could be a prequel on the Opie and Anthony show:

“I even had a title for it. It was called 'Double V Vega'. It actually would have taken place during the time Vincent was in Amsterdam, when he was running one of Marcellus’ clubs in Amsterdam. And Vic goes to visit him."

That would be sick!  They could get into all sorts of frickin' trouble in Amsterdam, the land of drugs and excess.  I realize that it is twenty years later, and both actors do no look like how they did.  But they can do so much now with digital skin grafting CGI technology now.  Or, you can have Travolta and Madsen lend their voice talents and do an extremely gritty animated feature (a la the animated sections of Kill Bil Vol. 1).

I guess I'm just pining for anything Tarantino.  But I have often thought if this "Tarantino-verse" as I'm dubbing it has other stories to tell.  We all know that Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction take place in the same world.  It'd be great to get some expansion on that and go into more detail.  We know the obvious links like the Vega Brothers and the Red Apple Cigarettes.

 

Or maybe Quentin Tarantino could make a movie following what happens with Jules after the events of Pulp Fiction, where he stated he was retiring and that he would "walk the earth". 

What do you mean 'Walk the earth?'

"You know, walk the earth, meet people... get into adventures. Like Caine from "Kung Fu."

That way, you could incorporate Jules age jump.  Like he's been traveling the world for 15 years and is somewhat of a vigilante/problem solver. 

Shit, I'd watch it.  Or maybe I should just wait for Django Unchained.

Where are the Instructions with this Frickin' Kid?

What do you do when your newborn baby is screaming bloody murder?  Change his diaper?  Done.  Feed him?  Done.  Make sure he's not to hot or cold?  Check.  Bounce him or rock him?  Tried it.  Shush him?  Done.  This kid will NOT STOP SCREAMING.  He is 5 weeks old, and today he has not you'd think he was doing a 24 hour audition for a death metal group.  Or testing the structural integrity of his vocal chords.  You'd think he'd eventually blow his throat out and lose his frickin' voice.  He had a very busy day yesterday.  A team of my wife's friends (one who happens to be a very talented professional photographer) came over and did a photo shoot with the kid.  He cried a lot during that.  I wanted to go play Golf, rather than be in the way of 6 women hovering over an infant.  I couldn't get my Dad to go play because he was too busy.  Eventually, he would find the time to go play Golf with my Uncle, however.  Nice guy, huh?  After the photo session, we took the baby to my Aunt's house so he could visit with some of the family.  He was pretty well behaved for that.

Today, we figured we'd hang out at the house, and just chill.  I wanted to watch a lot of Golf on TV.  Believe me, that shit didn't happen.  This kid cries, and screams, and cries, and screams.  Then just when he appears to be calming down, he some how gets given to me and he proceeds to go ballistic.

I don't know what I did, or who I pissed off.  But nothing about my journey of Fatherhood has been easy thus far.  And it's only been about 5 weeks.

I guess I could just start being an asshole and not take any part in his care or development like a lot of men out there.  Or I can tuck my tail between my legs, and hope that I don't have a nervous breakdown.

Hey, at least I get to go back to work tomorrow...

Another Ghost Rider Movie?

What happens if he goes out in the rain?  Or if someone pours a bucket of water on his head?

Ok, when was the last time Nicholas Cage was in a good movie?  Con Air?  Is that even considered a good movie?  How does this doucher keep getting roles?

Ah well.  I keep seeing new TV spots for "Ghost Rider: The Spirit of Vengeance".

I'd rather watch ass surgery on an airplane.  And I hate flying. 

The first Ghost Rider movie SUCKED.  I am a comic book fan, and I have never read a frickin' Ghost Rider comic book.  A dude who rides a motorcycle who's head is a skull on fire.  Dumb.  Sorry, not interested.  I predict that his movie will not only suck, but it will tank at the box office.

And does anyone notice that Nicholas Cage is the same character in every movie?  He always has that slightly redneck, asshole douche tone to his voice that makes my skin crawl.

I can't believe that balding, hair plug wearing asshole was almost Superman.

Fatherhood and Geekery

Being a Dad is crazy. I have been a Father for just about 30 days now, and my wife is beginning to cut me some slack with trying to raise my son Gibson to be a geek.

Before my little Gibson was born, I'd be at toy stores and comic book shops buying him Batman bobble heads and stuffed Yoda dolls.  My wife would look at me with utter disgust.  I could only imagine what was going on in her head.

"Why the f*ck did I marry this geeky asshole?"

Is being a geek that unattractive?  I guess so.  I'm not much to look at anyways.  But is my interest in comic books and Star Wars that unappealing?

I have a small collection of Batman action figures that I wanted to put up in Gibson's room.  You know, to fend off any bad guys who are looking for trouble.  I set them up on his dresser.  You'd better believe my wife wasn't having that shit.  She tried to hide them from me in the basement.  I found them after a few weeks, and put the back in Gibson's room.  She again took them down and are now in his closet.  So his crib is lined with Batman, Yoda, Darth Vader and Chewbacca.  All of them stuffed.  Not action figures. 

My wife has recently began to loosen up a bit about my geekery toward Gibson.  She's even been a little encouraging.  A few weeks ago she actually purchased the little guy a Superman onesie, which I thought was pretty cool indeed.  It was from the Gap, and it's Superman, but still pretty cool.  Not that Superman is lame.  He's not, I dig Superman, but I wanted him to have a Batman onesie to match my Batman shirt. 

I guess I should take what I can get.  She's actually dressing him in it.  It made me proud to see him  dressed like that.

I just bought him this bitchin' shirt:

He wore it to my aunt's house tonight and soaked it in piss.  Maybe he doesn't want to be a geek after all.

From one blog to another...

So I have a blog called "The Gospel of Mark" over on Tumblr.  But that name is taken on Blogger.  That's bullshit.  Ah well.  I'll call this blog "The Journal of Mark" where I can go more in depth in my nerdy musings and geekery.



I like that idea!

 Check me out on http://thegospelofmark.tumblr.com/!!!