Forgetting for a moment that the most amazing thing in this photograph is that Troy Williamson is actually catching a pass, I was in awe of one small detail: GREY FASEMASKS!!
Maybe I'm the only one, but I'm a uniform nerd. I LOVE this stuff! I prefer simple and plain jerseys like Penn State's, or Nebraska's.
This one shows what the J-E-T-S JETS! JETS! JETS! always wear and what the Bills SHOULD always wear (what would be the reason for NOT switching? The Bills don't like making money after jersey and merchandise sale? They've got enough apparently to say "no thanks, we don't our fans to love and buy our jerseys?"). Instead the Bills wear crap like this.I've never really loved the Vikes jerseys from any era, probably because there's so much freaking purple involved. However, I have always loved the helmet logo with the Viking horn, and am glad they've never gone away from it. But grey facemasks? Wow! Again, I'm probably the only one who thinks or cares that it looks awesome and gives them more of the old school look, but I love it. Also can everyone agree that under no circumstances is it ok to wear purple pants? Seriously, never. Ever. Ok then.
Now back to Troy Williamson catching footballs, and saying he was diagnosed at the Nike Vision Center as having some eye imbalance. Now I don't pretend to be a football expert (ok yes I do, but this one time I'll admit that I'm not), but in watching Williamson the past few seasons, I didn't think his problem was as much concentration as it was having no idea where the ball was when it was thrown to him. To have a concentration problem you need to actually SEE the ball coming to you. I remember several key drops last year, especially on deep balls, where the pass either hit him in the back of the helmet or he was looking completely the wrong way as a catchable ball sailed by him.
You can teach a receiver to run precise routes and indeed how to concentrate better on catching the ball, but can you teach awareness? Is there a cure for a low football IQ? I'm not so sure, but the Vikings are desperate to try this season. Williamson might be the most important player suiting up with those awesome grey masks this year. With a bevy of underwhelming receiving options to help inexperienced QB Tavaris Jackson (by the way- the new nickname is "T Jack?" No. Come on people. I thought we were over the Stu Scott/Linda Cohen First Initial first name First 3/4 letters last name cheesy easy way of giving people "hip" nicknames. Good lord we can do better. So for the love of Pete stop with T Jack), it would be an immense help to the Vikes QB, offense, and really their 2007 playoff hopes, if Williamson would become the true #1 they hoped he could be when he was taken with the #7 pick 3 years ago. I still think it's more likely that he's cut by year's end than he develops into THE go-to guy, but hey, stranger things have happened. We'll find out soon enough if you can indeed teach a guy to get a clue.
2 comments:
Jeff, if you look closely at that picture of Williamson, he's catching the ball with the padding just below his fingers; not his fingers. Also, his hands are too far apart and on totally different planes. I'm also assuming he just re-opened his eyes, but that's the pessimist in me.
Kris, you are absolutely correct, although I thought he usually waited for the ball to hit him before he opened his eyes.
Also, that is one glorious stache you have there. And the Brewers hat to boot? Well done.
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