Good Urlacher article

[Bill Swerski]

Given some of the recent debate here over whether or not Urlacher is overrated, I thought that this article in the Sun-Times might be of interest to some. I feel strange saying this, but Mariotti makes quite a bit of sense here...

 

Second City falls for second-rate poll

 

December 16, 2004

 

BY JAY MARIOTTI SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST 

 

 

 

 

Immaculate skyline? Check. World-famous chefs, authors and film critics? Check.

 

 

Nine million people in the metropolitan area? Check. Tom Cruise in "Risky Business'' and other Hollywood backdrops? Check. International hub of airline travel? Check. Oprah, Michael, Kanye West? Check. A place you could mention anywhere on the planet, in Bora Bora and Antarctica, and have people nod their heads? Check.

 

 

 

That's Chicago, a very large American city.

 

So why are we coming off like podunk pinheads when it comes to Brian Urlacher, an irrelevant magazine and a writer who has become a civic pariah when he merely served as an innocent pollster gathering remarks from a few cowardly NFL scouts? If you want to rage about life, folks, rage about terrorism, education, health care and kids with cancer. Don't get angry because The Sporting News, last a vital publication when dinosaurs roamed the earth, chose to make a splash, take an unscientific poll about pro football's overrated players and came up with seven scouts -- wow, seven! -- who named Urlacher The Linebacker as the most overrated.

 

The best response would have been to laugh. Once it was determined the magazine interviewed only a handful of league insiders (when it should have polled about 100) and that none of the respondents attached names to their evaluations, the results should have been disregarded as bogus. But Bears coach Lovie Smith made a glaring rookie mistake. Not only did he dignify the article with a reply, he lashed out at the magazine and the author, Dennis Dillon, with a blistering rant. What he did was turn a pile of garbage into a three-alarm fire while giving the publication exactly what it rarely gets.

 

Attention.

 

"He's a good linebacker. He'll be one of the all-time greats before all is said and done,'' Smith growled. ''A guy such as Brian Urlacher doesn't have to defend himself on whether he's a good player or not. Whoever wrote that article doesn't know what he's talking about.''

 

Wrong target

 

 

 

It was the sort of memorable tirade that should have been directed, frankly, at his players during various points of a maddening 5-8 season. When David Terrell dropped passes, threw hissy fits, drew penalties and landed six traffic tickets in a single stop on LaSalle Street, Lovie supported him. When Charles Tillman took a cheap shot at Byron Leftwich's head, argued with officials and generally acted like a punk the other day, Lovie supported him. When Jonathan Quinn and Craig Krenzel looked unworthy of a Punt, Pass and Kick competition, Lovie supported them. But *** that Dennis Dillon dude. And, like sheep, too many fans and media followed Smith's lead.

 

Needless to say, Urlacher is not the most overrated player in the league. When he's healthy, which he is not, he can make as much impact on a game as any defender out there. If only the magazine's editors had the sense to adjust the Urlacher angle to its proper place, providing insight that could have helped their credibility and broken new ground. There was a story here, but "overrated'' was the wrong word.

 

Try overhyped. Or overendorsed. Or overexposed. Suddenly, an absurd magazine headline transforms into a sound, thoughtful sports debate.

 

By no fault of his, Urlacher has become a darling of Madison Avenue when his play doesn't always warrant the commercial blitz. He arrived four years ago with a buzzcut and a physical, seek-and-destroy game, which led to natural comparisons to Dick Butkus and Mike Singletary in the City of Wild-Eyed Middle Linebackers. He was a defender for the video-game age, fast and attacking, and national advertisers were hooked. It didn't hurt that he played in a major market for a storied franchise. It also didn't hurt that he was white, at a time when the sport's dominant linebacker, Ray Lewis, was in the wrong place at the wrong time during a grisly double-murder in Atlanta. The league was so desperate for a hero and a winner in Chicago, it threw the Urlacher hype machine into superdrive. Next thing you knew, a laid-back guy who speaks in a monotone was hawking Cadillacs and deodorant while running through the city streets -- he would be limping now -- in a McDonald's ad. He also was having a fling with Paris Hilton, which turned him into a nationwide gossip item.

 

Doesn't meet expectations

 

 

 

It would be a miracle if his performances somehow matched the suffocating hype. They haven't. In 2003, he didn't force a turnover in a stinker season. This year, after losing 15 pounds at Smith's behest in a high-altitude training program, he has been injured since the first day of training camp. That is when Urlacher suffered a serious hamstring strain that has lingered for months and branched into other injuries -- a knee, the other hamstring and a calf that almost exploded and kept him hospitalized for nearly a week. So, yes, when Urlacher is doing as many commercials as any other player in the league, matched only by Donovan McNabb and Michael Vick, you can understand why the on-field expectations are higher than reality. That's why he is knocked for not shedding blockers well and needing the long-gone fat guys, Keith Traylor and Ted Washington, to protect him up front. That's why he is called a fraud when he actually is an excellent football player trying to become a Hall of Famer.

 

He isn't one yet. And if he were playing in another town, he wouldn't be nearly as well-known. But to call him ''overrated'' is woefully missing the point.

 

Some of Urlacher's teammates understand the silliness of it all. Unfortunately, some don't. "That's probably just a bunch of people who probably haven't played the sport,'' chirped the immature Tillman, referring to the author. "I have a lot more respect for someone who has played sports in this league instead of someone who's just a journalist and does nothing all day but critique people.''

 

"To call him the most overrated linebacker in the league is ridiculous,'' center Olin Kreutz said. "But the guy who wrote the article got himself all the publicity, and now he's the No. 1 enemy in Chicago.''

 

Much more importantly, Urlacher will sit out Sunday's game against Houston. It's about time. If he doesn't realize he's nothing without his legs, the scouts will be calling him meaner things than overrated. They'll call him washed up.

 

And maybe they'll even do it for attribution, though I doubt it.

 

 

Jay Mariotti hosts a sports talk show weekdays on WMVP-AM (1000) from 9-noon and is a regular on ESPN's ''Around the Horn'' at 4 p.m. Send e-mail to inbox@suntimes.com with name, hometown and daytime phone number (letters run Sunday).

 

 

[Monsters Of The Midway]

Great stuff Swerski! Much appreciated.

 

Don't let gilthorp see this.

[gilthorp]

Boy....the town is in a TIZZY over The Sporting News article.

 

I had to stop listening to the radio earlier this week when all of the UIG's came running out to defend him. Just like our own guy here.

 

Bottom line:

 

The guy had three sacks, no forced fumbles, no fumble recoveries, and no interceptions last year. That was the basis for these scouts.

 

He makes a highlight reel interception against the Vikes, helps the TEAM win a game and now he's not over-rated? UIG sure would like to think so as he couldn't stop his happy fingers from typing a message about it.

 

Last week, was same ole, same ole...back to being an average contributor to the team. Where was UIG then? Not typing a fricken word about it.....and come to think of it, neither did I.

 

 

By the way...Bill--NEVER would I have thought in a million years you would copy something by that tool Mariotti and post it! Classic. That's not a rip against you, just a happenstance I'd never thought I'd see on these boards.

[Bill Swerski]

The guy had three sacks, no forced fumbles, no fumble recoveries, and no interceptions last year. That was the basis for these scouts.

 

616884[/snapback]

 

 

 

 

Agreed that he did not have a good season last year. Then again, Urlacher was not shy about expressing his displeasure when Angelo traded away Washington and Colvin last August. My guess is that a lot of people, including him, quit trying after Angelo disassembled their defense. His fling with Paris Hilton certainly suggests that he may not have been as focused on football as he could've been.

 

By the way...Bill--NEVER would I have thought in a million years you would copy something by that tool Mariotti and post it! Classic. That's not a rip against you, just a happenstance I'd never thought I'd see on these boards.

 

Yeah, no kidding!

 

Mariotti's a muckraking, egotistical windbag and his stupid pi$$ fight with Hawk Harrelson is as childish and unprofessional as I've ever seen a journalist behave. But every once in a while, he does write a good article. And I think that he hit this one right on the nail: Urlacher is overendorsed and overexposed, but certainly not overrated. He may not be Ray Lewis, but he's still a heck of a football player.

Edited December 17, 2004 by Bill Swerski