But I got really annoyed at Gregg Easterbrook this week. His Tuesday Morning Quarterback column is filled with the most hate-filled vitriol about the Patriots. Worse than terminal BDS, really. I excerpt and comment for your "pleasure":

Argument for the New England Patriots as scoundrels in the service of that which is baleful: Dishonesty, cheating, arrogance, hubris, endless complaining even in success.

See, Easterbrook has a hard-on for the videocamera scandal; he thinks it's this generation's Watergate. What Gregg has forgotten is that, in fact, scheming for advantage is way of life in the NFL, as is breaking the rules, and taking your penalties when caught.

As for arrogance and hubris, this is a team which refuses to discuss anything except the coming game, always compliments their opponents before and after the game, and is the first to find fault with their own play. As for complaint, he is referring to the Patriots' known penchant to latching on to others without that discretion, and using that material to fire themselves up. So when T.O. says to "getcha popcorn ready", the Patriots do.

Belichick and the rest of the top of the Patriots' organization continue to refuse to answer questions about what was in the cheating tapes -- and generally, you refuse to answer questions if you have something to hide.

Yup, and only the guilty need a lawyer.

The team's star, Tom Brady, is a smirking sybarite who dates actresses and supermodels but whose public charity appearances are infrequent.

I love how charity in his mind is tied to the accolades that come with it. Hey Gregg, that isn't charity. That's buying an image.

That constant smirk on Brady's face reminds one of Dick Cheney; people who smirk are fairly broadcasting the message, "I'm hiding something."

Doesn't even need comment.

New England is scoring so many points the Patriots offense looks like cherries and oranges spinning on a slot machine. The Flying Elvii stand plus-159 in net points, by far the best scoring margin in the NFL. This is supposed to be impressive. But I think it's creepy....

Let's just get this straight. Because the Patriots are playing so well, they must be bad. Hunh.

On Sunday, the Patriots led the winless Dolphins 42-7 late in the third quarter, yet Tom Brady was still behind center. And he wasn't just handing off the ball to grind the clock, either. Rather, he was back in the shotgun, still throwing to run up the score. Here is a summary of the Patriots' possession with a 42-7 lead late in the third and Brady, Randy Moss and the rest of their offensive starters on the field: Pass, run, pass, run, pass, pass. When backup quarterback Matt Cassel entered the game in the fourth quarter, with the Patriots leading 42-14 -- a margin larger than the greatest fourth-quarter comeback in NFL history (see below) -- did he hand off the ball to grind the clock? Here were Patriots' coaches first three calls: Run, pass, pass. Cassel's second pass was intercepted and returned for a touchdown, and Brady re-entered the game. Did he grind down the clock? Pass, pass, run, run, pass. The final score was 49-28.

Ahh, yes, Easterbrook reveals his special place for "running to grind down the clock." For most quarterbacks, that makes sense; incomplete passes stop the clock. But to grind the clock, you not only have to keep the clock moving, you have to get first downs. Rather than going runwhacky, the Patriots continue to use a phenomenal passer - who had one grounding and three (THREE!) incompletions on the day. For Brady, passing is as reliable as running.

The week before, New England led Dallas 42-27 and had second-and-goal on the Cowboys' 6-yard line with 1:43 remaining and Dallas out of timeouts. Three kneel-downs would have ended the game. But Belichick kept calling plays, frantic to run up the score -- including calling a play with 23 seconds remaining from the Dallas 1-yard line, resulting in a touchdown that made the final New England 48, Dallas 27. The Patriots then kicked off, and Dallas got the ball with 13 seconds remaining. Cowboys coach Wade Phillips showed the dignity Belichick lacked and ordered a kneel-down.

What Easterbrook leaves out is that the reason the clock was stopped at 1:43 on second down was that Wade Phillips had just called a timeout. Had that not been called, the Patriots running plays would have run out the clock after third down, no touchdown. Wade Phillips wanted the ball back. The Patriots ran plays to eat up the clock. The Cowboys couldn't stop an undrafted free agent running back.

Innocent people falsely accused crave the recovery of their reputation, working hard to convince the world they are good. Creepy people who think they can get away with something act belligerent and show poor sportsmanship, which is what Belichick is doing right now.

Really? I've seen a lot of innocent people falsely accused just get tired and hide. And a lot more get really, really belligerent. In fact, guilty people often work hard to preserve their reputation.

Whew, got that out of my system, for this week anyway. See you later.

I think a lot of folks have used viability as a touchstone, but, as Gus Van Horn and Amillia Sonja Taylor help us see, that's a doomed argument:

It takes little imagination to conceive of further advances in technology that will permit a fertilized egg to be grown to full term artificially. If, as Blackwell hopes, we confuse such advances in technology with actual viability, we will have what passes for a "secular" argument against all abortion.

Cameron and colleague Simcha Jacobovici used evidence from DNA tests, archaeological surveys and biblical studies, showing that 10 stone coffins discovered in a Jerusalem suburb in 1980 by Israeli construction workers belonged to Jesus and his family.

Some 20 years later archaeologists apparently deciphered some of the names on the tombs in the 2,000-year-old cave as Jesua, son of Joseph, Mary, Mary, Mathew, Jofa and Judah, son of Jesua.

The 90-minute Discovery Channel film, produced by Cameron and directed by Jacobovici, will be shown on Channel 4.

The things Israeli archeologists dig up. If true, very interesting. I expect worldwide riots, Christians! (Oh, wait. Wrong religion for that).

Let’s call it a hundred million wasted, for a wastage of one part per three thousand, one thirtieth of a percent. I would love to see a reliable way to run major development projects in the third world with a waste and corruption rate of 0.03%. I’ve been awfully skeptical of the no-bid contracts handed out to Halliburton and friends, but this makes me reconsider. This is unbelievable performance.

I agree. Heck, I'd like to see Congress run something with less waste than 0.03%.

But on a side note, if you like beef jerky, pick up a bag of Jim Beam Beef Jerky next time you spy some. Oh so good.

"I can't watch that man any more, he makes me too angry."

How is anyone supposed to reach across the aisle if there is no one there to listen? How can you argue to find compromise when your arguments can't even be heard?

He then challenged whether I supported the troop surge. I said yes, although I wished the number was even higher. He mocked that opinion, and when I asked for his success strategy, he asserted that success was impossible; our presence was the reason people were killing each other, and we should just give up and go home. At least he was honest, even if I can't grasp his reasoning.

Ellis Hobbs had another stellar day, but even his help - several amazing kickoff returns, as well as breaking up passes - wasn't enough to tip the scales back.

We'll resume our Patriots coverage in another 6 months.

"When my wife doubted me in buying the team, I told her that if we did a good job managing this asset, we'd do more in terms of impacting the psyche of the community than if we were in position to give a million dollars a week away," Kraft said. "Sport can bring a community together in ways that nothing else does. It's the great equalizer."

Thank you, Bob and Myra Kraft.

Heath Evans was the special teams guy today - he seemed to be in on every special teams tackle or knockout, which was nice to see (not enough credit is given to special teams tacklers, so here's one!).

Troy Brown, as usual, gets the offense/defense player of the game. Sure, he never took a snap on defense, but forcing that fumble on the interception? Amazing!

The CBS announcers are, in my opinion, idiots. Maybe they don't have as clear a picture as my HDTV, but several times they miscalled plays, or misanalyzed what was going on on the field. And then they'd do recaps that would run over the next play. Message to announcers: The Patriots do not have the traditional 22 second gap from end of play to break huddle. They often do a hurryup - so stop with cutting to clips!

Marty Schottenheimer: If you're going to make a point of not wearing a headset as a head coach, boy does it make you look nervous when you put one on halfway through the game.

LaDainian: The NFL is full of taunting. Both teams were aggressive and taunting - and note that it was your team with the two unsportsmanlike conduct flags. Storming off the field after your last game the season you're named the league MVP? That has absolutely no class. Your comment that they were mimicking Merriman's dance on their victory, and that was direct orders from Belichick to disrespect you holds no water. To quote Artrell Hawkins' comment to you, "You're better than this." You're going to need to apologize to Bill Belichick, and the Patriots, to get beyond this.

Next week is, yet again, the Colts and Patriots duking it out. Sorry to everyone who had been looking forward to the much-heralded shadow SuperBowl (Ravens at Chargers); you'll have to settle for this rivalry instead.

Governor Deval Patrick said yesterday that he had come up with a way to pay for more police officers in Massachusetts: charge convicted criminals a fee.
Unveiling his most detailed account yet of his plans for next year's state budget, Patrick said he would propose a "safety fee," which every person convicted of a crime would have to pay.

The Ravens defense deserves great kudos. Keeping the Colts out of the end zone for the entire game is an amazing feat, forcing 5 Colts field goals (the Colts' acquisition of Adam Vinatieri paid off with the 51-yard, bounce off the bottom crossbar field goal). But the Ravens offense couldn't put it together to match the output of their defense.

Some accolades should also go to the Colts defense - which has twice forced us all to eat our predictions of a Colts meltdown from their porous defense. I don't think they'll make it all the way - but I could be surprised.