This year's crop of rookie quarterbacks in the National Football League might be one of the best ever and while Andrew Luck of Indianapolis Colts and Robert Griffin III (RGIII) of Washington Redskins are getting most of the ink and airplay, a 5-foot-11 scrambler with a strong arm in Seattle might be the best of the bunch.
Russell Wilson has guided the Seahawks to the verge of a playoff spot and for a guy who was flying so far under the draft radar that his knees were dragging on the ground, it's been quite a first pro season.
Wilson, or so the unofficial NFL wisdom would have you believe, is too small to be a QB in the NFL. A guy 5-foot-11 supposedly can't see downfield over the behemoths on the defensive line and such a small body, say the experts, will be beaten and battered and flattened by mid-season.
Well, it hasn't happened. Game after game, Wilson - who led Wisconsin to an 11-3 record and a Rose Bowl appearance (losing to Oregon) last year - has defied conventional wisdom. He's an elusive runner and regularly scrambles for first downs; he throws on the run; he's savvy far beyond what you might expect from his level of experience. In a crucial early-December game in Chicago's Soldier Field, Wilson led a late fourth-quarter drive from his own three-yard line to force overtime; and then drove the length of the field in OT for the game-winning touchdown.
Being drafted 75th overall (the hype from Luck going No. 1 and Griffin No. 2 had long since died down by the time Wilson was picked in Round 3) rarely translates to a starting job at quarterback in the NFL. Further diminishing Wilson's chances to start was the Seahawks' pre-draft signing of former Packer QB Matt Flynn to a three-year, $26 million contract. In the NFL, the big-bucks boys almost automatically get the starting jobs, if for no other reason than to justify the general manager's expenditure. In Seattle's case, the $3 million rookie (Wilson) simply beat out the high-priced $8.67 million dollar man, leaving the high-priced quarterback holding a clipboard on the sideline while the unheralded freshman becomes more heralded with every start.
Ian Hamilton of the Leader-Post: "The latest suggestion to end the hockey lockout would see owners and players meeting without league or union officials in the room. Here's hoping a bench-clearing brawl breaks out."
Among the top 10 signs you're not cut out to be a race-car driver, from CBS's David Letterman:
- "Friends know you as 'Mr. Motion Sickness.'
- "You don't like to be rushed.
- "You can't even handle high-speed Internet."
Hamilton again, after Tufts University rescinded the honourary degree it bestowed on disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong: "No, the degree was not in chemistry."
Norman Chad of the Washington Post: "Going to Verizon Center for a Wizards game is roughly equivalent to going to Kohl's for a tube-sock sale - you just hope there's not a whole lot of traffic because, once you arrive, there's not a whole lot of excitement."
Humourist Steve Burgess on Facebook: "After day-long meetings, NHL owners and players reach agreement: The royal baby should be nicknamed either 'Willzy' or 'Kater.' "
Sportswriting legend Frank Deford: "Modern golfers have kryptonite drivers with club heads as large as prize pumpkins, and steroid balls that would not pass the drug test, even if the hapless International Cycling Union were doing the random sampling."
Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle: "Red Wings prospect Riley Sheahan was arrested under Michigan's 'super drunk' designation. He'll get jail time and a T-shirt with a big, blurry 'S' on the front. When arrested, Sheahan was wearing a Teletubby costume. Apparently he was a little Dipsy."
Comedy writer Jim Barach: "Don Larsen has auctioned off the uniform he wore while pitching the only World Series perfect game for $756,000. Or as today's players call $756,000, the fourth inning."
R.J. Currie of sportsdeke.com: "According to Forbes, the Toronto Maple Leafs are the first NHL team valued at a $1 billion. This just in: there's been a jump in the price of laughing stock."
Another one from Chad: "The (Washington) Wizards' malaise is more than a generation old, but the current decline began in 2008 when the team insanely gave Gilbert Arenas a six-year, $111 million contract. This would be like the Vatican elevating Father Guido Sarducci to cardinal for life."
Headline at TheOnion.com: "Robert Griffin III sends receivers on routes that will get them out of his way."
Comedy writer Jerry Perisho, on when baseball commissioner Bud Selig plans to revisit video replay: "Once he figures out how to pry 'Field of Dreams' out of his VHS machine."
Comedy writer Alan Ray, on the windfall from the Notre Dame-Alabama football title game: "Each school will receive $2 million. The players will get a commemorative tote bag."
Comedy writer Alex Kaseberg: "New York Yankee aging-star, Alex Rodriguez, is scheduled to undergo hip surgery; apparently A-Rod's hip couldn't withstand the punishment of years of pounding from an over-weight wallet."
