What about Bob?

Ron Aprea sends us this moving e-mail about all the bumps and bruises - and worse - from Week 1:

"Football has always been a rough sport and injuries would always go with the terrain. This week there were a record amount of serious injuries on opening day around the league, with one player fighting for his life and both New York quarterbacks sidelined with injuries.

"Putting aside the violence issues for a moment, do not the folks who run the NFL realize that when their star athletes are sidelined, it hurts their game? Imagine an opposing baseball player grabbing A-Rod and slamming him head-first into the ground. Aside from the bizarreness of that behavior, how deprived would baseball fans be?

"Rule changes and equipment modifications are constantly being adapted to cut down chances of serious injuries, but somehow, to me, football seems more violent than ever. In fact, football often looks like a gang fight which includes a hideous celebration by the Gladiator who pulverizes his opponent. Rolling blocks are no longer legal since ball carriers and their blockers, they thought, were sustaining too many knee injuries.

"The rolling block was replaced with grabbing the ball carrier by his head or shoulder pads and slamming him head first into the ground. (i.e. Eli Manning) Well, less knee injuries, but what about head, neck, and shoulder damage? Ask Wayne Chrebet, (and many others) whose career was cut short because of a series of concussions.

"Considering the fact that most football is played on artificial turf, and not grass, is it any wonder why players were being carted off the field in droves this past Sunday? The game of blocking and tackling has become the game of body slamming and blows to the head...and celebrations. Football to me is starting to look strangely like the World Wrestling Federation. Bring back the block and tackle. It took a lot more skill and seemed to be a bit more civilized. And please, if a player must celebrate, perhaps he should wait 'til his team wins the Super Bowl. It's beginning to look like a very expensive three-ring circus."

Our old friend Richard Siegelman, a longtime elementary school teacher in Oyster Bay-East Norwich, saw our note this morning in Newsday about Isaac Bruce aiming to be NFL MVP this year, as well as Bruce's contention that Michael Vick deserves another chance in the wake of his guilty plea on dogfighting charges.

Says Teacher Man:

"I share Isaac Bruce's beliefs that he COULD possibly turn out to be All-Pro, and MVP this year ... but not his belief that "EVERYONE deserves 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th chances" - certainly not murderers, molesters, maimers, rapists, etc. I wonder if Bruce is in favor of letting everyone out of our prisons for their 2nd---5th chances?"

Teacher Man also chimes in on our item about Michael Strahan, in which we mention the fact Strahan's next sack will set the Giants' all-time record:

"That's only if we count his 'phantom' sack of friend Brett Favre that helped him set league single-season record."

Ouch.

Bill Doremus of Jericho caught our item below on the meaningless aspect of preseason games, and he e-mailed (Bob.Glauber@newsday.com) an interesting idea:

"More than ever, there's much discussion about NFL pre-season games - lack of interest, half empty stadiums, pointless injuries, etc. I can't give my 2 pre-season tickets away. There's serious talk of eliminating some of the games while expanding the regular season schedule.

"I have another solution. The pre-season games certainly have a role. How else can a team evaluate talent and prepare for the big show? What I'm suggesting is that these games be given limited value in determining team standings. For example, a pre-season win could be valued as half a win - likewise for losses. Under this scenario, Coach Mangini can weigh giving Kellen Clemens and the scrubs a good look for long range benefit versus going all out with Chad Pennington and the starters to rack up "half-wins" that could become huge at the end of the regular season. Or, he could do something in between. In any event, fan interest would be elevated to everyone's benefit. God, can you imagine the opportunity for second guessing by you guys as well as by us mere mortals?"

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