My friend Duke knows her football pretty good as we like to say at our Mensa Cumberland meetings, so the day before he was traded to the Chicago Bears, I asked her what she thought of this whole Jay Cutler thing.
Cutler’s feelings being hurt because the Denver Broncos considered trading him during their Matt Cassel curiosity stage? Cutler’s demand for a trade? Cutler not only putting his Denver home up for sale just to show the Broncos he was cereal about wanting out, but putting his parents’ Denver home on the market as well? (And if that picture doesn’t send off warning shots I don’t know what else would.)
“It’s high school (stuff),” Duke said as though the whole thing bored her, spitting it out just like that to offer a little insight, perhaps, into why such a dainty (though wiry) little thing would be known to answer to Duke.
As Duke is the most important member of our Mensa meetings four times a week, the membership takes her views on sport quite seriously, thus, having put the resolution to a vote, we decided Duke, as she always is when she’s in charge of the meetings, was correct in her assessment that this was all high school stuff.
Of course, I contend it goes back even longer than that. Little thing I like to call pee wee football? But that’s a battle fought and lost from days past. At least Cutler continued to play football after the eighth grade, so he’s got that going for him. Which is nice.
Of course we’ve seen this all play out before, and not so far from here. And oddly enough, it was the Denver Broncos who benefited the most when a perceived prima-dona quarterback threatened to hold his breath, or in John Elway’s case play minor-league baseball for the Yankees, until he was traded to an acceptable team.
So do I feel bad for Broncos fans because their team had a gun pointed to its head by a talented, yet obviously spoiled, young quarterback?
No. As I said, Denver got a pretty good deal 26 years ago, and the Colts, in turn, got a brand new dome in Indianapolis to play their games in. This high school stuff is pretty old hat in the NFL and a given part of any landscape that involves pampered young brats who carry right or left arms that are gifts from the gods. And, of course, parents and a sports agent — the agent in this case being the same agent who helped Brett Favre huffy-puff his way out of Green Bay.
Thus, it was only natural Dan Snyder would throw the Washington Redskins into the hunt, even though the Redskins’ draft inventory is so thin they were a longshot at best to land Cutler.
But since when did that stop The Schneid?
We will, however, at least try to give Little Big Guy and his boy Vinny Cerrato some credit and assume they pulled out of the sweepstakes once they remembered Cutler would be throwing to Santana Moss, Chris Cooley, Antwaan Randle-El and the projects from the draft the Redskins carry on their roster; not Denver receivers Brandon Marshall, Eddie Royal and Brandon Stockley, who are, um ... pretty good.
No knock at Cutler, but missing out on him will end up being a good thing for the Redskins. After all, don’t they have a promising young quarterback themselves in Jason Campbell, who will be entering his second season in the same offensive system for just the first time in his career? Haven’t the Redskins stressed they were most concerned with building their aging offensive line, as well as finding somebody who can rush the passer? Didn’t the Redskins promise to finally start building continuity?
Sure, but now Redskins fans are left to wonder, because of the Richie Rich owner of the NFL always having to have the most expensive new toy in the store, if they must be concerned Campbell will threaten to sell his house, uproot his family and demand a trade because he feels dissed by his team’s interest in Cutler.
Not to worry. Campbell is a guy who sees the big picture of big business (even the monkey business Snyder practices). He is wise beyond his years and his chief concern is his team, not his ego.
Although, frankly, Redskins coach Jim Zorn might have cause for worry, because if the Redskins had landed Cutler, you could have bet his parents’ new house in Potomac former Broncos coach Mike Shanahan would have joined him in D.C. the following year.
The Redskins may have lost the battle for Cutler, but they came out ahead in the war despite their owner’s continued efforts to make sure they didn’t. It would be a comfort to Redskins fans if they could believe their team merely dodged an objectless bullet here, but in the era that is Dan Snyder ownership, there is no rest for the weary. All of the bullets are objectless, and they just keep coming and coming.
Mike Burke is sports editor of the Cumberland Times-News. Contact Mike Burke at mburke@times-news.com.
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