Hey man

While watching the preseason game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Washington Redskins, a couple things jumped out at me.

First, there was Pittsburgh's first-year wide receiver coach Richard Mann. It wouldn't be fair to call Mann a rookie. After all, he's been around football for a long time. Four years at the high school level, another eight at the college level, and a whopping 28 more bouncing around the NFL. According to my math, that's 40 years worth of football experience.

So you'd think he'd know better than to do what he did.

As one of his own receivers was heading out of bounds after catching a pass, the receiver got shoved a bit by a Washington defensive back, causing him to tumble -- right into Mann. Down he went. With apologies to the late Ernie Harwell, the replays showed Mann just standing there like the house by the side of the road -- until he got bulldozed.

Maybe Mann wasn't paying attention to the play. That would seem to be inexcusable as a coach. And if he was -- here's a little unsolicited advice for him --- Hey Mann, when a receiver and defensive back are heading your way full speed, and you're only a couple yards out of bounds -- get the hell out of the way!! If he walks across highways like that, Mr. Mann might not see a sophomore season in Pittsburgh.

The other was the on-going saga of Robert Griffin III, aka RGIII. The media just can't seem to get enough of this guy. Sure, last year as the Redskins' rookie QB, he put up some decent numbers. As we all know, he suffered a serious knee injury towards the end of the season, which had be surgically repaired. Some blamed coach Mike Shanahan for leaving him in the game when he was obviously injured. Others claim a head coach only knows what a player tells him when he asks the player if he's still OK to play. Towards the end of any season, most every player in the NFL is dinged up a bit. Some can play through whatever ails them, and some can't. It's not an exact science. During the heat of a game, there's hardly time to ship a player off for an MRI and a thorough diagnosis. The coaches and players typically only have a couple minutes to make a decision. Go or no go? RGIII went, and got his knee blown up, if it wasn't already. It's not necessarily someone's fault. Sometimes it just works out that way.

However -- coach Shanahan had made it quite clear that RGIII would not be playing in any preseason games this year. Better to let him heal for a few more weeks until things start counting. Probably a prudent decision. Can't hurt. Besides, the Skins aren't going anywhere this year anyway. Unless the Packers, 49ers, Falcons, Saints, Seahawks, and maybe Vikings all spontaneously combust between now and January, the Skins have little to no shot of even sniffing the Super Bowl.

So what is the big deal over RGIII anyway? It's almost like a few months ago when everybody seemed to think the LA Lakers possibly not making the NBA playoffs would be akin to the apocalypse. Hey, if they didn't, I was pretty sure the world wasn't going to end. And like the Skins, they were nowhere near championship caliber. Even if they did make the playoffs, they'd get blown out in an early round. Turns out they did, they weren't, and they were. Life is still going on last time I looked. So what was all that hype about?

Under NO circumstances was RGIII going to play against the Pittsburgh Steelers. So.... why was he on the sidelines in uniform? That's just another jersey to launder after the game. A waste of water and detergent. Perhaps instead of prancing around the sidelines yukking it up with his teammates, Griffin might have considered being more professional about it and going "upstairs" into a booth, where the serious football analysts sit. As barely more than a rookie, he has a lot to learn, and what better way to do that than hanging out with the people that dissect the game?

Worse yet, why was he wearing that floppy white Panama hat while styling around? It's not like the game was being played somewhere in the tropics under a blazing sun with 100+ degree temperatures. It was played in DC -- at night. Hello?

Yep, RGIII has a great smile, is immensely talented when healthy, and perhaps a glorious future career in the NFL awaits him.

But for now, even if his knee gets back to 100%, Mr. Griffin better start rehabbing something else.

His mind. Because the guys in the other jerseys on game day couldn't care less about his smile, his photogenic presence, and certainly that ridiculous Panama hat. Their job is to plow him under like last week's trash at a landfill, and they take it seriously.

Hey man, hope the knee gets better, but lose the hat. The other guys pay attention to such things too, and I dare say they didn't like it much either.