Dan Shanoff Idiotic Comment of the Day

Here we go again:

Brady is "Sportsman"Tom Brady: Most Clutch QB Ever? Possibly. NFL's Poster Guy? Definitely. Just-Like-You Internet User? Uh, depends on your habits. But "SI Sportsman of the Year?" Maybe I'm a little thrown because Brady earned it last winter, and more than 10 months have gone by since. He's the QB of the NFL's greatest dynasty and worthy-ish, but shouldn't the award have gone to the real mastermind: Charlie Weis?After all, Weis didn't just coach and scheme Brady into "Sportsman"-level status; he then did the same thing with Notre Dame QB Brady Quinn, while turning Notre Dame into a national power. In one year. (Okay, if not Weis, then how about Bill Belichick? Maybe SI didn't find him enough of a hottie. We all can't date Bridget Moynihan.) [emphasis mine]

OK. Let me spell it out for you, Danny. The reason why is that awards for "Sportsmen" should go to guys who actually PLAY THE FREAKING SPORT, not "masterminds." Charlie Weis doesn't have guys like Julius Peppers or Dwight Freeney chasing him. Charlie Weis doesn't have to fit an eight-inch wide ball through a 12 inch seam in the coverage to prevent Champ Bailey from taking it the other way. Charlie Weis doesn't have to read coverage and call blocking schemes so Patrick Pass picks up Ray Lewis shooting a hole. At some point being on the field and actually performing matters. Sport is not a scripted drama. Coaching and schemes matter some, but not more than athletes actually doing what the coaches say. We don't want to watch video games or robots. We watch athletes.

Dan Shanoff writes over and over again about how important the men behind the men on the field are. He wrote yesterday about the excitement he had about the Florida State-Penn State game. He loves coaches, masterminds, OMG SKEEMZ!!! It's time to face facts. Sport is great because the athletes we watch do things we can't do. And no matter how broad one's sports intellect is, it doesn't mean a damn thing if you cannot perform like a world-class athlete. In so many fanboy writers' minds, they miss this distinction. Do brains matter? Yes. But professional sports leagues are not filled to the brim with Rhodes Scholars. They are filled with world class athletes (and yes, some of them may be brilliant).

Look, Weis has been great this year as a coach. But he's a coach. He's not facing live ammo. He's directing. A sportsman award should go to someone playing the game (and yes, I know that SI doesn't always award an actual athlete, but that's an entirely different post).