I'm like, so shocked

Nobody throwing in the towel here

Shocker of shocks! Clinton Portis is 100 percent, ready to go, not hurt and want to mash up some Dolphin defense. A mere three days after the WaPo reported that Clinton's little world was crashing around him, going down in blaze of self-importance turns out he's ready to go.

We learn nothing, he's still either hurt and pushing bravado, not hurt and decided the way to motivate himself is to put himself on the line with the team and the fans or finally got over his stardom and put back together the shattered Lladro of his fragile ego. Or maybe it's all a put-on, a bit.

Either way who cares, just run the damn ball.

It does raise some interesting issues about who should do what in preseason. It's a thorny issue because there are legitimate reasons teams need to see guys go hard before it counts. New players, returning players on the bubble, players coming back from injury. I think most fans understand top drawer players are making the team and don't need to work to make the roster but then we have to discuss things like 'chemistry' and 'rhythm' and the first time a star like Clinton sits out the whole preseason and then his performance hurts the team fans and talking heads will point to his sitting out the getting into game shape portion of the summer.

That said Clinton can come on strong and all is forgiven.

Which raises another issue. Who gets to flag it in preseason? The Bruce Smiths, Michael Strahans, the grizzled vets, have always been able to shuck their preseason responsibilities whether with a 'hammy' or a staged holdout (anyone want to bet a dollar that Michael Strahan does not pay the full fine for missing camp?) but when you get stars in their prime, Clinton with a knee, Terrell Owens with a shoulder etc etc, making excuses not to play hurt which becomes not to play because I might get hurt then a team's ability to get in shape and evaluate the complete roster is hurt.

In other words it was tough enough watching the Redskins limp through the Todd Wade Experiment and the Stephon Heyer Show and now that Clinton sat out the entire preseason and is now miraculously fine but has not played with these guys in uniform since November if ever I don't want the first two regular season games to be an extended fucking preseason so everyone can 'get their rhythm.' That's what the fucking preseason is for.

I have been of the mind for some time that the league should consider dropping two preseason games and convert them into regular season games and despite all the arguments for it, it can't happen any time soon. The players would want (deservedly so) for their salaries to go up by two games plus some 'injury premium' to adjust for the fact that two extra games is not just two extra games but two more opportunities to get injured and end a career.

The owners will never give this up since preseason games are a fucking ATM for owners. They get the gate, parking and concession dollars free and clear and only have to pay players their per diem. Many owners (though I can only vouch for the Redskins' Dan Snyder and the Eagles' Jeffery Lurie) require season ticket holders to purchase preseason tickets with the regular season package so they lock in those profits.

The eternally poor-mouth owners insist the preseason games are their 'get back' for having to pay such astronomical salaries, that they need that revenue to offset the cash outlays during the regular season. If the final two preseason games were to be converted into regular season games bringing the schedule to 18 games, then the owners would see a huge net reversal in profit as the money they get free and clear from those two preseason games is not just not in their pocket anymore, it's actually going out the door in player salaries.


Whatever, run Clinton, run!



Clinton Portis from here.