Bottom of the Bird Cage 5/5

It’s the 125th day of the year. Happy Cinco de Mayo!

On this day in 1821, Napoleon died on the island of Saint Helena where he had been exiled by the British. He was 51 years old. On May 5, 1904 pitching for the Boston Americans, Cy Young threw the first perfect game in modern baseball history when he blanked the Philadelphia Athletics.

And on May 5, 1862, forces of the Mexican army defeated the French at the Battle of Puebla and that’s what has led over the years to the celebration of the fifth of May. Badly outnumbered and fighting an Army that had not lost a battle in over 50 years, General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguin marshaled his forces and defeated the French. Eventually, the French forces took over Mexico City and occupied the country for more than four years.

Many gringos mistaken believe Cinco de Mayo is Independence Day for Mexico. That’s actually September 16th. May 5th is not an official holiday in Mexico. Of course it’s not an official holiday in the U.S. either, unless you are near a basket of chips and a cup of salsa.

Enjoy the day.

From the New York Times: Pro football,” Jack Kemp said when he first ran for Congress, “gave me a good sense of perspective to enter politics: I’d already been booed, cheered, cut, sold, traded and hung in effigy.”

Maybe that’s why football players such as Kemp, who died Saturday, have seemed to have more success in politics than star athletes who come out of baseball or basketball.

Baseball is supposed to be more of a thinking man’s sport, but it has produced political leaders ranging from the erstwhile baseball pitcher and writer Fidel Castro to the increasingly loose-lipped Jim Bunning.

Basketball gave us a former senator in Bill Bradley, a onetime congressman in Tom McMillen and a prospective gubernatorial knucklehead in Charles Barkley. And although the current occupant of the Oval Office would be a good pick the next time you need to play H-O-R-S-E against a national championship team, only big-time football has given us a president, Gerald Ford, and a Supreme Court justice.

And football is the sport that keeps on giving

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I think football creates more successful politicians because of its nature as a true team sport. A single player can dominate a basketball game. In baseball, it’s less so, but still can happen. In football, a great player is worthless unless he has an awful lot of help. I think this creates a mindset that makes it easier for football players to work together in concert with others and that improves the chances of getting elected and/or staying in office.

From the Los Angeles Times: Fifteen years ago after an especially disappointing loss to Miami, Esiason, then the Jets’ quarterback, was making the seven-mile drive from the Meadowlands back to Manhattan. While he was slogging through stop-and-go traffic at the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel, the car next to him was violently rear-ended. The quarterback threw his car into park, hopped out and ran to the woman whose car had been hit. She was wearing, of all things, an Esiason jersey, and was utterly shocked when he rapped on her window to check on her.

“Are you OK?” he said, trying to keep calm. “Are you OK?”

“Boomer? Is that you?” she asked the good Samaritan, sounding disoriented. “I think I’m OK, but . . .”

But what?

“But you guys sucked.”

Welcome to the New York Jets, Mark, where frustration is measured in decades, and quarterback grace periods are as leisurely as shotgun honeymoons.

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What Mark Sanchez faces in New York with the Jets fans and Matt Stafford is dealing with in Detroit with the Lions faithful – if there are any left – will have a major impact on whether or not they survive and thrive in their first NFL jobs. It would be nice if we could believe that success will come down to simply the skills of Stafford or Sanchez. But there are too many busted up first-round quarterbacks along the NFL highway and we know that players put in this position must deal with so much more. The Lions haven’t won an NFL championship in 51 seasons. The Jets last won a title with Joe Namath in the Super Bowl after the 1968 season, or 40 seasons ago. That’s a lot of baggage for the fans to put on the broad shoulders of two young quarterbacks.

From the Washington Post:
Mike Williams was the last Washington Redskins player off the field. The 6-foot-6, nearly 400-pound offensive lineman was dripping from the rain that drenched yesterday’s organized team activity and the sweat from his ensuing workout.

He jogged approximately 1,000 yards following practice and planned for 30 minutes of exercise after an offensive line meeting. More conditioning was scheduled in the evening. It represented the plan between Williams and the Redskins to shed 40 to 50 more pounds from a frame that recently exceeded 400 and restore the promise that made Williams the fourth overall selection in the 2002 draft.

“Hey, they asked me how much you weighed today!” Redskins Coach Jim Zorn called toward Williams.

“Oh, jeez, I don’t know,” Williams responded. “I got to go weigh myself.”

The best news for Williams is he’s “sub now,” which is his way of relaying he worked himself below 400 pounds. Williams already has lost 55 pounds. His goal is to enter June’s OTAs between 370 to 375.

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This is an interesting story of a man trying to do something more important than playing football; save his life. If Mike Williams can actually come back to the NFL, it will be a nice finish to what he originally wanted to accomplish: live a healthier life. Back in 2002, Williams was the fourth overall pick in the NFL Draft. Two choices later, the Chiefs traded up to grab Ryan Sims. In a comparison with Williams, Sims seems like a choice pick and not the bust that he was in Kansas City. If Williams can get his weight down and get into shape, there’s still the problem that he had in Buffalo: he wasn’t good enough on the field. Maybe what has happened over the last seven years has lit a fire under Williams and the skills the Bills saw will show.