as al pacino said in "scent of a woman" ...

Its time to take a flame thrower to this place, to One Arrowhead Drive.

After Herm's first retarded challenge yesterday, the LJ to Tony G TD pass, I nearly came unhinged in my seat, I was so irate the red flag hit the field. To recap: LJ has just thrown a halfback pass to Tony G. He caught it, both feet in bounds. Refs ruled incomplete. There was defensive pass interference on the play as well.

At that spot, midway through the 1st quarter, with 1st and goal upcoming at the 1, you do NOT challenge that call and risk blowing one of your two guaranteed challenges with so much time left on the clock. Even if you are 100% confident you will win the challenge, remember -- you only get two challenges. (Three if you win the first two). Do you really want to waste one of those challenges in that spot? Hell no! And this is the 2nd week in a row Herm has done this: his challenge in denver last week on a 9 yard reception was every bit as retarded as this one was.

Anyways, I shared my displeasure with the folks around me, and with some friends via text message. The only buddy who agreed with me was Gregg. Everyone else argued in favor of the challenge for various reasons. But one reason really just stood out above all the others:

"stop thinking like a playoff team...have to take all the small victories we can."

Look it, when you're 2-11, I can see the "take all the small victories you can get" argument. I don't agree with it, but I can at least see it.

But "stop thinking like a playoff team"? (steve sighing in disgust) That's why we're 2-12! That's why we've lost 21 of our last 23 games! Because NOBODY affiliated with this organization is thinking like a playoff team! They're perfectly content to play the "we're rebuilding", "that's what happens when you play a bunch of kids", "too many rookies", "too many injuries" cards. Too much "we gave a good effort, we just need to finish" crap.

Or as so memorably noted in "The Rock":

(stanley) I'll do my best.
(mason) your best? Losers always whine about their best! Winners go home and f*ck the prom queen!

I couldn't have said it better myself. Which is why I quoted it.

Simply put, the Kansas City Chiefs are run by losers. We are run by people who don't put winning as their number one, only thing that matters goal. We've got a GM focused on ticket sales. (Isn't that what your sales staff is supposed to do?)

(And as a side note: for the 2nd time this year, a former Chiefs great was honored at halftime, and Carl was nowhere to be found. Really? You're so scared of a few fans booing you, that you refuse to show up and honor arguably your single greatest personnel move of the last 20 years, stealing Willie Roaf for a 3rd rounder? If Carl is that spineless, that gutless, has that small of a package, he has no business running a business of any kind, let alone a professional sports franchise. And if his package is that small, he has no business frequenting certain "reputable singles sites" either, he'd be laughed out of the chat rooms, that's for sure ...)

We've got a head coach who excuses incredible on-field lapses in judgment, holds noone accountable via benching, roster cuts, or coaching changes. (Isn't that what a head coach is not supposed to do, tolerate failure and mistakes, and not make changes when the situation demands change?) And now, it appears, based on the text above, we've got a sizeable portion of our fanbase that is more than willing to cut these guys some slack, and doesn't expect or demand a playoff-caliber effort every time out.

You know who you are, that sent that text message. And its an attitude like that, that's why you're rooting for a 2-12 team, champ. Because you don't demand the best.

Speaking for myself, I want a return to the days when Marty cut players who f*cked up on kickoff coverage. I want a return to the days when Gunther had to have smelling salts delivered to the sidelines, because he nearly passed out from rage at his defense having the audacity to surrender a touchdown up 24-0 against the Rams in 2000. I want a return to the days of Vermeil chewing everyone's ass out in full view of everyone.

Enough of the coddling. Enough of the excuses. Enough of the "let's enjoy small victories" sh*t. There's only one thing that should matter in a professional sports league. Winning.

The people leading this franchise clearly don't know how to do that. And until we get some folks in here who do make "the main thing the main thing", as Dick Vermeil used to preach, there's no reason for any of us to care.

a few quick site notes

Thanks to the 5 unique individuals who voted in last week's "Family Guy" poll! I did not vote ... so my readership is up 2 in a week! Wow, at this rate, I might have like 12 readers in time for Election Night's live blog! (And hopefully all 12 do the smart, sensible, responsible thing, and join the Stop Obama Express, and send Barry back to the Land of Lunacy ...)

Anyways, some updates:

* new poll is up.

* "The Mentalist" effing rocks. Give it a chance on (brent musburger voice) CBS ... tonight at 8pmCT.

* my thoughts on Tony G were posted prior to this post.

* also posted in the last week: Steve beats (and blasts) the "al davis of the 2 Legit 2 Colquitt" League ... Steve admits what this month's fantasy is for him ... I praise McCain for finally pointing out how utterly unelectable that tool Barry Obama is ...

* also posted: I offer MU fans "words of comfort" ... I recap a beautiful day in Lawrence ... I offer my week 6 picks (and yup, I finally nailed an "Upset of the Week") ... I list my top 10 played songs on my IPod ... and in a drunken rage, I go off on the utter stupidity of Barry supporters, and conclude that "if you give a sh*t about this country, you'll vote McCain. If you don't, you'll vote Obama".

What else needs to be said ... other than Live, from New York, its ... Saturday Night!!!

No wait. I mean, Live, from Steve's Computer Room, its ... the Final Debate Live Blog tomorrow night!!! I'll be here by 7:50ish, assuming I'm sober enough after bowling. I'll go until I can't take Barry's lies anymore. Hope you'll join in, I'll be logged into Windows Live Messenger as teamtito15@yahoo.com ...

(steve arriving in 132 sunday chant voice) carl must go! carl must go!

I would like to think that the non-trade of Tony Gonzalez today was my official breaking point as a fan of this team.

Sadly, I still plan to show up Sunday. So I haven't been broken yet. But I'm getting pretty damned close.

I encourage any Chiefs fan in the comments section to explain to me why Tony Gonzalez is still on the roster tonight. (Hint: there's only one reason why, and if you want to buy a vowel, its s_ll t_ck_ts). I can think of 5 reasons he shouldn't be:

1. That 4th rounder the Giants offered us? Will be of far more use to us 3 years from now, when this team is hopefully in contention, than Tony Gonzalez will.

2. The Tight End position is the single most overrated position in football. We're not getting a 1st rounder for Tony. Or a 2nd. A 3rd was a pipe dream. Hell, the fact that Carl was AIMING for a 3rd should tell you how unrealistic that was, Carl NEVER aims for fair compensation, he always aims to win in every negotiation!

3. A rebuilding team has zero, zip, nada, no use for a whiny malcontent who puts getting 3 yards ahead of sealing a victory. Sorry, Chiefs fans. Tony G lost me forever with his b*tch fest after the denver win. I will not be standing and applauding his "record" on Sunday.

4. For all his record-setting accomplishment ... Tony has played on 3 playoff teams in 11 years (soon to be 3 in 12). He has never won in the postseason. Obviously, that's not entirely on him, or even a majority on him ... but the bottom line is, he's never won a postseason game. But worst of all:

5. I'm sorry, but the only reason you keep Tony G at this point ... is to preserve the "precious" sellout streak. The ONLY justifiable reason to NOT get ANYTHING you can for someone who doesn't want to be here ... is to sell tickets.

Sorry fellow Chiefs fans, but there's no other way to put it. Carl kept Tony to milk as many ticket sales as he could. He put profit ahead of ultimate on-field success. He put greed ahead of the good of the franchise.

Hopefully for the final time.

Because if Carl Peterson is back next year ... well, I'm about one more retarded decision away from reaching my Gordon Memorial Breaking Point with this franchise. In the last three years, we have endured a 15% ticket hike. We have endured the worst season in a generation. We have endured loyal fans in the club level being kicked to the curb in the name of greed. And now, we endure this, the ultimate slap in the face: a general manager who puts selling that one extra ticket, ahead of the long term good of the franchise.

If Carl had any dignity, he'd resign today. He has clearly lost all touch with the reality of what is good for the franchise. Of course, he doesn't have any dignity, so he won't resign.

But something tells me that while he has no clue what reality is for the franchise he dominates ... he does have a grasp on the reality of his status with Arrowhead Nation. Which is why he won't be on the field Sunday, to honor Emmitt Thomas, to honor Curley Culp, and to honor Tony G. He has no problems telling us fans what he thinks of us, via ridiculous rate hikes, mistreatment of club level season ticket holders, and a sh*tty ass on field product that is arguably worse than anything else in the league. But he's got enough grasp on reality to not put himself on that field Sunday, to let us know what we think of him ...

(steve sighing in frustration ...) 11 more dark, frustrating weeks to go. On the bright side, the shady Apple Market going out of business means I loaded up on the heavily discounted liquor ...