Normally, you don't want to find yourself in agreement with Jeremy Shockey. The New York Giants' tight end, while a valuable player, also is something of a caveman. But on the subject of preseason football, Shockey's recent comment that two-a-day practices and four preseason games are a "debacle" and "dangerous" is the only logical position to take.
Of course, the NFL isn't listening, not when the telecast of a preseason game can attract 7 million viewers, which is what happened a week ago. There's far too much money to be made, so the games will continue. And they also will continue to be unnecessarily dangerous, as we saw Sunday night in the game between the Bengals and Redskins.
Only four minutes in, Clinton Portis suffered a partial dislocation of his left shoulder. The starters weren't scheduled to play more than 15 plays, and they didn't; the starting offensive unit took 13, to be exact. But that was long enough for Portis to get hurt. He got crunched while making a tackle after a Mark Brunell pass was intercepted. So Portis got hurt making an earnest effort on a worthless play he shouldn't even have been involved in during a meaningless game. One would think Portis will be ready to start the season, but we're talking about an injured shoulder on a running back.
Suppose it's chronic? Suppose it just nags him to death all season and makes it more difficult than usual to hold on to the football or block a linebacker? Here's what we know for sure: It isn't good that Portis got hurt. It was good to see him standing on the sideline in the second half, but we don't want to read too much into that, either.
Nine minutes later — the game was still in the first quarter, mind you — linebacker Chris Clemons sprained his left medial collateral ligament.
Doctors had to immobilize the knee with a brace before Clemons was helped from the field. Before the end of the half, rookie running back Kerry Carter was carted from the field so doctors could get a good look at his right knee.
It's not news that football players get hurt. And none of the injuries the Redskins suffered was as gruesome or significant as, say, the blast to the knee of Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer in that playoff game against the Steelers in January.
But it's worth getting hurt in the playoffs because it's the playoffs. It is unspeakably unnecessary to get hurt in the preseason because it's nothing.
For decades, even through the 1970s when most pro football players made little more than teachers and truck drivers, two-a-day practices and preseason games — it used to be six instead of four — were necessary. "We weren't in football shape," Sonny Jurgensen reminded me Sunday night. "We had to have jobs in the offseason."
Players sold cars, insurance, did whatever. Sonny was such a great basketball player he played some barnstorming basketball after the NFL season.
You know what players do now in the offseason? They get ready for the season. There are minicamps and five weeks of organized team activities. Team practice facilities are open year-round. Lemar Marshall was there nearly every day. Nobody's out of shape. Nobody comes to camp, as Sonny and Sam Huff once did, to get in shape. They're ready to go in July, much less the middle of August.
Shockey isn't alone in feeling the way he feels, that preseason is unnecessarily dangerous; he's just the latest to say it and say it loud. In fact, Shockey's teammate, the always rational and eloquent Tiki Barber, said the same thing last week. Asked if he was at all looking forward to the Giants' preseason game against the Ravens, Barber said: "Not at all. It's a chance to get used to hitting again, and a chance to get a look at a lot of young guys. But other than that it serves no purpose other than to get you hurt."
Well, it serves the players no purpose — certainly not the veterans. Even veterans coming back from severe injuries like Palmer and Daunte Culpepper don't do much in preseason. Anything seems extraordinarily risky because it is. But it does serve a purpose: the masses get to see football. And that's what America wants more than anything: pro football. More than baseball (sorry, seamheads), more than basketball, more than NASCAR, more than "American Idol." The beast must be fed. Hey, there are Fantasy Football rosters to be finalized soon. This close to September, obsession is right around the corner.
Did you see the NBC telecast of the game Sunday night? Okay, here's a roster of on-air talent (and I hope I don't leave anyone out): Al Michaels and John Madden called the game. Bob Costas, Cris Collinsworth, Sterling Sharpe and a rookie named Jerome Bettis were all on hand. Andrea Kremer was reporting from the sideline. Peter King reported at halftime. There was more star power in blue blazers for this preseason game than there was for a Super Bowl telecast 15 years ago.
I'm not going to make the case that it was excessive because the public watches. The public craves it. Tiger Woods attracted approximately 4 million people on a Sunday en route to winning the Buick Open.
Raiders-Eagles — the Hall of Fame game — attracted more than 7 million last Sunday evening.
In Cincinnati on Sunday, a franchise record of more than 64,000 watched a mistake-filled, error-plagued game. I won't blame the players; the only important thing the veterans can do is leave the building uninjured. That's it. The first half was notable only for how good each team's defensive starters played. Beyond that, who knows? The coaches know because they study film frame by frame. The rest of us won't have any idea of what to make of any of these teams until play starts for real.
Until then, even the coaches will watch games holding their breath, hoping to heaven nobody is hurt seriously. Shockey and Barber are right, of course. There should be preseason games involving rookies and free agents only. And there should be only two of those. And if Clinton Portis hurts his shoulder making a tackle on an interception, it ought to be in a real game, one that counts in the standings.