FORT BENNING, Ga., (Oct. 8, 2014) -- COMMENTARY: 2 minute warning
A RECORD FOR EVERYTHING
After watching Monday Night Football, commentators were all over the fact Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson had set a record for the most rushing yards (122) by a quarterback during MNF.
He surpassed the likes of former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb (2002), former New England quarterback Steve Grogan (1976) and former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw (1975).
Although the record puts him in the same category as some of the great quarterbacks, I still have to wonder - who cares?
Today's National Football League has a statistic for just about every category you can think of, so what makes one record better or greater than the next?
It's almost like getting a participation trophy for just going out and playing the game.
While fans of those particular teams probably think it's great, who really cares?
Sometimes I believe sports commentators are fed every kind of statistic to fill in blank air space at the expense of the fans.
I believe everyone knows a professional football game wouldn't last three hours without the commercials and all the dead air time between plays.
After attending many NFL games I have wondered why about timeouts. At live games, there are occasions when the officials will announce "a TV timeout," which is longer than a normal timeout.
But, I digress. With all the stats flying around, I wonder how many games have been won by the emergency quarterback; what is the most stubbed toes in a game or the most times a player has gotten sick on the field and upchucked?
I don't know the answers, but I am sure somewhere there is a stat for that, too.
But, the stat no one from the NFL wants to talk about is the rate per year players are involved in domestic violence, DUIs and other law violations.
If you've not noticed, since sponsors have threatened to pull their backing, teams like the Baltimore Ravens with Ray Rice and the Minnesota Vikings with Adrian Peterson have found it in their heart to do the right thing - only because it would cost them money.
But I have one more stat that begs looking at - how many teams do the right thing by getting rid of a player or suspending them indefinitely before they are threatened with the loss of revenue?
I'll bet that is one percentage that's low.
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