life isnt fair. that’s the way the cookie crumbles. nice guys finish last. life sucks and then you die. wait till next year. etc. etc.

but im not like that. i dont believe any of that. i think all that stuff are quotes by losers for losers to make losers feel less like losers. but fuck losers. they are the people that you whallop before you have to take on the worthy challengers.

i believe that when something as ridiculous and fucked up as what went down in the storybook setting of snowy foxborough happens, cooler heads should right the wrong.

im hearing that when the season is over, the incompletion rule will be changed or reworded, or worded so that an incomplete pass looks different on paper than a second-string quarterback getting his shit handed to him in the mush ending the game and the season for the valiant patriots. and i appreciate courage so much you dont even know and what would be so courageous would be if the nfl would just say right here and now that that play was misscalled and it was to be the last play of the game and because of the miscall the wrong team won and the right team lost.

and because i believe in fairness, i will tell you that if the Cubs won the world series on a play at the plate and if baseball had instant replay and if the replay umpire called the Cub safe, but it was obvious that he was out, i would make the official change the call to out, because that is the right thing to do.

now theres a disturbance in the force.

just like when George Bush took office.

and when things get out of whack, fucked up things get in the mix and losers win and winners lose and a mess of mess is created in its foul wake.

fuck the nfl if they dont right this wrong before next week.

fuck them.

what we all saw was the biggest travesty that ive ever seen in professional sports. everyone knows that the nfl and al davis dont get along. but not everyone knows that in the two playoff games that the raiders played, only one penalty was called against their opponents. do i think the referees were in on it?

all i know is that only one penalty was called in two games.

and i know that the raiders won their final game but an unseen face in the referee booth overruled the call on the field and gave the playoff win to the patriots who had, at that time had lost it, and everyone everywhere knew that they had lost it.

here it is days later and i still dont know what to say.

but of course i do.

i hope that the NFL commisioner Paul Tagliabue gets a fast-moving cancer in his left testicle that attacks his right testicle.

i hope Mike Pereira, the NFL’s director of officiating comes down with a terrible cold, which in fact isnt a cold at all, but a new form of lung cancer that turns your heart black and your blood green and your face grey and your eyes pink and your death immediate and your soul evaporate.

finally i hope that all the NFL press corps, particularilly the columnists and commentators stand up and call bullshit when bullshit is dealt and quit standing behind a ruling that wouldnt have held water in a flag football game in a park, or a little league game on a field, or a college game in a stadium, and definaletly not a playoff game in front of tens of millions.

why is it that im the only fellow on a keyboard outraged and thinking that there could be something done about this right now so that the Raiders could be playing the Steelers this weekend?

that’s right, im also the fool who thinks that the Cubs will win it all before i die, and that this site will get me laid.

is there anyone who covers football or who is in a position of power at the NFL or the New England Patriots themselves who have enough class to say that what went down was fucked and it shouldnt be so and that things should be different and they will make it so.

sadly, america, there isn’t.

(former Bear) emailed me while I was at lunch with lines like “fool you better recognize game…” and all that stuff that thick fingered-asassins like Cox are apt to type. He even tried to get personal by suggesting that my old pal Ken Layne recently disrespected me by not mentioning me in his blog today when he talked about all of his supercool friends who write.

“Brotha gave props to Axel, and everybody know Axel just a guitar player. Where’s the brothas on the wall?! I wanna see some brothas on the walls of Sal’s Famous!” wrote the ever-inflamed Cox.

I responded with a hearty Whatever and flooded his mailbox with pictures of Jerry Rice’s rings and Tim Brown’s receiving records. I told him he better prepare for Tyrone Wheatley’s helmet being repeatedly slammed into Cox’s chest and becoming familiar with the back of Rich Gannon’s cleats.

I know my friends love me and it’s hard to link to a guy who puts huge pictures of barely legal girls on the splash pages and floundering stars in his blog. It’s not the trendiest column, it’s not the prettiest, it doesnt talk about Cheeny and Ari and all those other liars and thieves and ne’er-do-wells. I dont link lots of people or articles or newpapers and from that I dont get lots of links back in return. Still, some bear with me, as they should, as they better.

And my good pals like Ken and Matt and Amy and Ben do me the biggest stoke of all, they read and they dont make too much fun.

Still, I’m jealous as hell that Matt and Ken have taken this 9/11 thing and perfectly surfed the wave into huge success. They have made it so that no serious warblog can not link to them or comment on their comments and they have accumulated much respect and many many readers. All deservedly so.

You’d think two handsome young men with such a masterful way with words and real ideas about politics and international affairs could find themselves on the boob tube more than a lot of these old wanks that we’ve grown tired of, but I’m sure that day will come soon, too.

In the meantime I’m just planning on waiting in the wings, typing on here during my 15 minute breaks, cursing the public transportation here in the city of Angels, and wondering how long Layne’s mail will pile up in my hollywood cabana until I call him over to pick it up.

Some of this is from the summer!

Come watch the Raiders with us, Ken. Bring Laura. Chris will be there. Jeanine may drop by too.