Chris Answers PTI’s Questions

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How long should Frank Francisco’s suspension be for throwing a chair at a fan?

Bud Selig needs to send a stiff message to players that folding-chair throwing should only be practiced by professional wrestlers and Bobby Knight. Francisco clearly needs to be suspended for the remaining 18 Ranger games this season and probably for at least 40 next season.
That being said, there needs to be more security around Major League bullpens in order to prevent this sort of thing from happening again. Yeah, Francisco shouldn’t have thrown a chair, but this whole thing started because the husband of the woman who got clocked with the chair was drunk and yelling at Texas reliever Doug Brocail.
This moron, probably eight or nine beers deep, had allegedly been heckling Brocail and the rest of the Texas bullpen for the previous few innings and things got heated in the ninth.
Yelling and cursing doesn’t give a player the right to fight a fan, but baseball players are normal people and have a breaking point.
Fans earn the right to heckle players when they buy their ticket, but if it crosses a line it is up to stadium security to control the situation. Where were they? If this guy is yelling, why couldn’t an usher ask him to quiet down or ask stadium security to do the same? It’s up to the ballparks to control this, players shouldn’t have to.
One more thing: if the chair had hit the heckler instead of his wife, I would have applauded the throw.
Here’s why: Craig Bueno, the guy yelling at Brocail and the intended recipient of the chair to the head, would never, under any circumstance, heckle a Major League Baseball player if he saw one on the street or in a restaurant. Why? Because he knows he would get the s*** kicked out him. But when these idiots sitting in the stands have a few too many they think they’re invincible because of the barrier between the playing field and the spectators. If you watch Bueno during the argument you’ll see him make the “come on” motion to the Rangers bullpen, indicating that he wants to fight. Think he would do that if he was walking by the Rangers in an airport?
My rule is, don’t provoke a fight unless you are prepared to get into one. This guy clearly wasn’t. He thought that he was protected by his role as a spectator, and when you’re cowardly enough to do that, then you deserve to get your ass kicked.

Are the Packers good or are the Panthers bad?

I’ve been on the record here saying that the Panthers were overrated last year and had one of those magical years where their players stayed healthy, all the bounces went their way and every player on the team seemed to peak.
That rarely happens two years in a row, and I predicted the Panthers to finish this season at 7-9 and miss the playoffs.
Jake Delhomme is a solid quarterback, but his M.O. during the playoffs last year was that he was good enough to not lose games on his own, but not necessarily good enough to carry a team on his shoulders. What happened in the past six months to change everybody’s mind? (Same thing with the Packers-Panthers spread. The Pack were three point dogs on Monday, but if they had beaten the Eagles to play in the NFC Championship game, they probably would have been favored by one or at the least, one-point underdogs. But because the Panthers played the Patriots close in the Super Bowl the whole opinion of the team is changed?)
Back to ripping the Panthers.
Stephen Davis is getting close to that inauspicious 2,000 career carry mark and is clearly on the decline.
With Steve Smith getting hurt, Carolina Offensive Coordinator Dan Henning won’t be able to stretch the field at all since the rest of his receiving corps are all possession receivers.
As for the vaunted Panthers defensive line? I’m not sold. The Packers abused the Carolina front-four en route to 152 rushing yards.
Brentson Buckner is one of the more underrated players in the NFL, but that makes up for Julius Peppers who is one of the most overrated. How many times did you hear Peppers name on Monday night? He’ll make a big sack, but is ineffective against the run and takes plays off.
It’s still too early to write the Panthers off or to declare the Packers the best team in the NFC, but at the moment it looks like the Panthers aren’t as good as last season and the Packers are just about the same. Remember, they were one fluky Donovan McNabb pass away from a match-up with the Panthers in the NFC Championship Game.

Is Tom Coughlin old school disciplinarian or is he clinically insane?

Playing on the Giants under Jim Fassel was like going to summer camp. Playing on the Giants under Tom Coughlin is like being in a supermax prison.
Three New York players were fined last week for being early to team meetings. Apparently, they only showed up four minutes early when Coughlin wants them to be five minutes early.
I understand that Coughlin needs to toughen up a bunch of players that were pampered under Jim Fassel, but if you want the meeting to start at 2:55 then don’t schedule it for 3:00. It’s that simple.

Why are the Mets waiting for fire manager Art Howe?

Because then the front office would have to admit that they messed up by mortgaging the team’s future in July to make a futile run at the playoffs. The Mets traded away all of their top prospects for Richard Hidalgo, Kris Benson and Victor Zambrano, in order to make a push for the postseason that wasn’t at all realistic.
When the Mets made the Benson trade on July 30 they were four games under .500 and seven back in the N.L. West and Wild Card race, with numerous teams ahead of them. It seemed like a curious move, to get a pitcher who will be a free agent at the end of the year in exchange for a young third baseman and two highly-touted prospects.
Of course, it didn’t pay off and now the Mets are 19 games under .500 and behind the Rockies in the Wild Card race, just 17 games and nine teams behind the leading Giants.
It’s not Howe’s fault the Mets suck, but somebody has to take the blame.

Oprah: Selfless Humanitarian or Corporate Shill?

In case you haven’t heard (which I doubt), on the premiere of her 19th season, Oprah gave away a Pontiac G-6 to all 276 members of her studio audience.
It was a brilliant move by both Oprah and Pontiac, who will pay about $7 million for the cars, but earn that back five-fold because of all the publicity.
But is Oprah selfless or a shill? She’s both, and that’s OK. Oprah is the most powerful person in America and uses that clout for good. Just because Pontiac used her show as a launching platform for their new mid-size sedan doesn’t make her a bad person.
Now, let’s just hope that Stedman makes an honest woman out of her one day.

Toss Up

More impressive: Pats or Eagles

I’m going to say the Eagles. Losing three straight NFC Championship games, including two at home, is pretty darn impressive.

Who’s your wideout: Terrell Owens or Randy Moss

This is going to come as a shock to most of you, but I’m going to go with T.O.
When motivated, Moss is the best receiver in the history of the NFL. All Daunte Culpepper (or whoever) has to do is lob the ball somewhere in Randy’s vicinity and no corner can do anything about it.
But that’s only when Moss is motivated. And that is maybe eight or nine games a season. In the others, Moss just seems to go through the motions. If he knows a play isn’t going his way, Moss won’t block, instead, he’ll just stand around the line of scrimmage.
I don’t want that kind of player on my team.
I’m not going to defend Owens, because his sideline tirades and off-field behavior are despicable, but at least he works hard every time he steps on the field.
And frankly, I’d rather have Marvin Harrison.

More likely to keep it going: Butch or Mooch?

Keep what going exactly? They won one game for crap’s sake. As the Wolf says in Pulp Fiction, “let’s not start -“, well… you know how it goes.
The Lions will be better than the Browns this season, but that’s like saying that Hawaii is going to be a better TV show than Rodney.

What will happen first: Ty Willingham wins the title or gets the boot?

One week ago people couldn’t wait to fire Ty Willingham, now just because they beat a Michigan team that has lost its previous five road openers (despite being ranked in the Top 11 each time), we’re supposed to take his ring size?
This team lost to BYU last week. The question should really be: What will happen first: Ty Willingham wins the Insight.com Bowl or gets the boot?
Even then, I’d have to put it at 50/50 either way.

More fun to watch: The hit on Eli Manning or the hit on Jeff Feagles?

Reason #415 TiVo is the greatest invention of the past decade: Rewinding the Eli Manning hit over and over. It’s like watching the career ending hit that Lavar Arrington put on Troy Aikman, it just makes me so happy.

Big Finish

Contract extension for Terry Donahue?

Let’ see: Fired Steve Mariucci, got rid of Jeff Garcia and Terrell Owens, hired Dennis Erickson and went into this season with Tim Rattay as the starting quarterback. Yeah, I think a contract extension is about right.

Ken Dorsey will start for 49ers?

Kudos Terry Donahue, kudos.

Sammy Sosa back on track?

If by “back on track” you mean, still striking out at a Reggie-esque clip and hitting meaningless solo homeruns late in games that are already decided, then yes.

Why isn’t Tony on Dream Job?

Because when a friend asked a few months back which show I thought was worse, Dream Job or Playmakers, I actually had to think about it for a few minutes.

Will Roger Clemens get #17 tonight?

Yes. And as a reward, Oprah is going to buy him a new Pontiac G-6.

Chris Answers PTI's Questions is an occasional feature on this site.