It’s Good News Monday. The Boston Red Sox sweep the Colorado Rockies to win the World Series for the second time in four years and the New England Patriots beat the tar out of the Washington Redskins to improve to 8-0 on the season.

Top line: New England Patriots improved their 2007 regular season record to 8-0 by crushing the Washington Redskins 52-7 at home. New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady completed 29 of 38 passes for 306 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for two scores. New England’s defense awoke from its recent semi-slumber to shut down Washington’s offense. Patriots outside linebacker Mike Vrabel had three sacks, all of which resulted in fumbles that were recovered by New England.

Offensive line: After an injury riddled start to the season the offensive line has remained stable for the past few weeks and Patriots fielded its first-string starting line against the Redskins: Left tackle Matt Light, left guard Logan Mankins, center Dan Koppen, right guard Stephen Neal, and right tackle Nick Kaczur. The line once again did a terrific job protecting Brady and also punched whole for the running game.

The line used a combination of blocking schemes to move the ball, mixing out-side zone-blocking stretch plays, straight ahead power blocking, traps and and pulling tackles.

Kaczur gave up a sack that resulted in a fumble (the Redskins were unable to capitalize). Mankins drew a false start penalty on a drive that ended with a touchdown anyway. Kopen drew a false start penalty on another drive that also ended with a touchdown. Mankins was probably the lineman who struggled the most blocking. He missed a block when pulling to his right near the goal line and he also missed a block on a screen left (that play still resulted in a first down, I’m just saying).

Late in the game back-up tackle O’Callaghan got to play right tackle and Russ Hochstein right guard while Kaczur got some snaps at left tackle. Billy Yates and Wesley Britt were inactive.

The Gist: Patriots methodically picked apart the Washington Redskins who attacked the underneath edges of Patriots’ defense, a dink-and-dunk strategy that often rolls up a lot of yards against New England but rarely many points. The ‘Skins probably didn’t have much of choice. It’s tough to run with sustained success on New England’s front seven and a young quarterback like Jason Campbell shouldn’t be asked to dissect an experienced multi-look defense like New England’s.

Patriots used a patient and punishing approach to break down Washington’s defense, which was ranked fifth in the league going into the game. Redskins managed to cover wide receiver Randy Moss throughout most of the game, but that was about all they managed. Runningback Laurence Maroney amassed 75 yards on 14 carries, including a really good one where he reversed field to pick up nine yards and a first down. He also caught a pass in the left flat that he took 25 yards after side stepping a desperately diving Redskins defensive back. Runningback Kevin Faulk had five rushes for 32 yards and seven receptions for 57 yards. Wide receiver Wes Welker snagged nine catches for 89 yards and one touchdown.

New England Patriots’ scoring plays:

1) On third and goal from Washington’s three yard line Brady couldn’t find an open receiver out of the shotgun as a defensive linemen dropped back to cover Faulk underneath. Brady stepped up in the pocket and then took off, diving over the goal line for the touchdown. Moss was open streaking along the end line but Brady decided to take it in himself for whatever reason. 7-0.

2) On second and goal from the three yard line Patriots sent in their goal-line clown formation with inside linebacker Junior Seau as fullback, fullback Heath Evans as tailback, and outside linebacker Mike Vrabel as tight end. Somehow the Redskins managed to not cover Vrabel who easily caught a play-action pass from Brady. 14-0.

3) Gostkowski kicked a 36-yard field goal. 17-0.

4) With 20 seconds remaining in the first half New England ran a fake-spike play and lofted an alley-oop to Moss for a touchdown. Moss got away with the slightest of push-offs on the cornerback, probably because there was mutual contact and because he didn’t extend his arms more than half-way when he did it. The officials generally allowed both receivers and defensive backs quite a bit of leeway when it came to contact. 24-0.

5) After two fruitless plays from the clown formation Patriots went to a spread formation on third and goal from Washington’s two-yard line and Brady scooted behind Neal into the endzone for his second touchdown run of the day. 31-0.

6) On third and nine Redskins Campbell lost the ball when he was sacked by Vrabel. Colvin scooped up the ball and rumbled into the endzone. 38-0.

7) Patriots eschewed their clown formation on second and goal from Washington’s two yard line and went straight to a three-receiver set. Welker ran a short out from slot left and Brady found him with a perfect strike. That was Brady’s 30th touchdown pass of the season. 45-0.

Back-up quarterback Matt Cassel scrambled around left end for a 15-yard touchdown. 52-0.

Mike Vrabel, playmaker: Vrabel did more than just score the tenth touchdown catch of his career, he also sacked the beleaguered Campbell three times, each time forcing a sack that was recovered by the Patriots (twice by defensive end Ty Warren, once by Rosevelt when he scored a touchdown).

It’s really amazing how poorly the Redskins protected their inexperienced quarterback (who himself did a poor job protecting the ball). Vrabel got his first sack by shoving aside fullback Mike Sellers, who was lined up as tight end.

He got his second by simply outrunning Sellers on the outside and then pushing runningback Clinton Portis into Campbell.

The third was a real beauty, one that demonstrates how superior the Patriots are to their competition. Redskins wisely blocked Vrabel with right tackle Todd Wade, with Portis standing by as insurance. But the Patriots out-schemed them badly: Vrabel rushed in a sort of meandering way while Seau unexpectedly blitzed from his inside linebacker position well off the line of scrimmage. Since neither Wade nor Portis were engaged with the slowly advancing Vrabel, both of them turned inside to pick up Seau, leaving Vrabel with a clear path to the quarterback (Wade apparently thought Vrabel was covering Portis). And that’s when Vrabel turned on the jets and chased down Campbell, forcing the fumble that Colvin recovered and returned for a touchdown.

I simply can’t imagine Kaczur and Faulk failing that miserably in pass protection. Heck, they routinely defeat way trickier pass rushes with ease. Like I said, it’s just another example of how good the Patriots are, specifically of how good the Patriots are at executing the basic stuff.

Vrabel usually lines up as left outside linebacker but the Patriots frequently have him and Colvin swap sides. All three sacks, however, came when Vrabel rushed from the left side.

Whacked by Welker: Patriots opened with a 14-play drive that made a mockery of the idea that perhaps Redskins’ talented secondary could put the hurt on Patriots’ wide receivers: Wide receivers Donte Stallworth, Randy Moss and most notably Wes Welker added a decisive edge to the running game by blocking Washington’s supposed game changing defensive back. On first down Welker blocked defensive back Pierson Prioleau, preventing him from cutting down runningback Laurence Maroney who picked up a first down running right up the middle. On second down Welker blocked linebacker London Fletcher on the left edge, allowing Maroney to turn the corner for 14 yards and a first down. Tight end Kyle Brady made the seal block on the line of scrimmage and Light pulled round him to absorb Prioleau. On the next first down Welker whiffed his block on Shawn Springs, limiting Stallworth to a gain of three on a quick screen right. A couple of plays later Welker hit Prioleau again as runningback Kevin Faulk ran over left guard. Prioleau made the tackle but only after Faulk had gained seven yards. Welker couldn’t get to his designated blockee on the following play, but a terrific inside trap by Mankins allowed Maroney to storm up the middle for an easy first down. The next play was pure humiliation. Out of the shotgun Brady faked a hand-off to Faulk. From his slot right position Welker ran at Prioleau as if he was going to block him. Prioleau bit hard on the fake and Welker wheeled back outside, a wide open target for Brady. The 19-yard completion underscored how utterly over matched and out classed the Redskins were. Brady scored the game’s first touchdown five plays later.

By and large the Patriots simply abused Prioleau.

Assorted plays and observations:

1) It’s hard to believe, but Patriots are playing without one of their most productive formations because of tight end Benjamin Watson’s injury. The two split-ends, two tight slots formation has basically been replaced with a three-receiver set where Welker plays Watson’s role in the underneath passing game.

2) Back-up tight end Marcellus Rivers got a lot of playing time in the second half, both run-blocking and pass protecting. He did a decent job, better than last week aginst Miami, in my opinion, but he also dropped a pass in the end zone. He dropped another pass on a short out.

3) Tight end Kyle Brady finally got his blocking back on track after a couple of underwhelming games. He also caught a 19 yard pass on the Patriots last drive of the first half.

4) Asante Samuel picked off deep pass by Campbell. He also made a great play on third down to stop Washington’s second drive. Redskins overloaded with receivers to the right, Samuel backed off, seemingly to cover deep, then attacked as the ball was snapped to break up a short pass to Santana Moss on a square out pattern. It was a very good play by Samuel.

5) Defensive end Richard Seymour’s return to action after seven weeks on the PUP wasn’t exactly highlight reel, but he did a solid job holding the right end of the line.

6) Vince Wilfork had another great game at left tackle. He, Warren and Seymour basically rendered Washington’s running game meaningless.

7) Patriots went with four wide receivers a number of times, giving Gaffney the chance to catch four passes for 39 yards. He also showed he can make passes over the middle. Like the other receivers, Gaffney was quite helpful blocking, in particular on Maroney’s 25 yard reception.

On the first drive in the second half, Patriots ran a quick screen right to split end Stallworth. Welker ran a square out from his slot-right position to block the cornerback over Stallworth while Kaczur flared downfield to throw a block. Stallworth picked up 22 yards on the play.

9) Rivers and Brady did a terrific job clearing the way for Faulk on a screen play in the second quarter,on the drive that ended with Vrabel’s touchdown. Brady and Rivers both lined up right. Brady threw a devastating cut block on the cornerback while Rivers blocked linebacker Randall Godfrey well enough to give Faulk room to pick up eleven yards and a first down.

Bottom Line: If the New England Patriots were drifting towards becoming one-dimensional, as I contemplated last week, then the Redskins are non-dimensional. The Redskins may be somebodies in the NFC, but they are plain doormats for the top-teams in the AFC. At 8-0, the Patriots are half-way to perfect and no team - no team - has been able to challenge them for four quarters. Their next opponent, the undefeated defending Super Bowl champions Indianapolis Colts, are likely to prove a most formidable challenge, perhaps an insurmountable one.

Links and Reactions:

Provincetown Journal’s ProJo Pat’s blog has Redskins locker room quotes.

Post-game uotes from the Patriots locker room at Patriots.com. Also game highlights.

Fletcher, quoted by the Washington Post:

“We got utterly embarrassed in every facet of the football game…This loss falls on everybody in this organization. I feel like we’ve got to let it simmer and stew, because I don’t ever want to have this feeling again. I don’t think you just move on. There’s a lot of stuff that happened on this football field today that has to be corrected if we’re going to get to our ultimate goal this year.”

His fellow linebacker Godfrey might be the first thing they need to fix. He reportedly was more fixated on Patriots scoring than on stopping Patriots from scoring:

“I said something to (Belichick) after the game,” Godfrey said to NBCSports.com. “I told him, ‘You need to show some respect for the game.’ You just don’t do that. I don’t care how bad it is. You’re up 35 points and you’re still throwing deep? That’s no respect.”

Tool.

Behold the Fellowship of Tools:

Stephen Bainbridge:

I am so going to be pulling for Indy next week. I’ve often said my second favorite team was whoever was playing Dallas. Now, I’ve got a new third favorite team; whoever’s playing the Patriots. We’ve got to teach America’s kids that cheaters don’t prosper.

In D.C. they ought to teach their kids to play football.

The Illustrated Conservative:

But I’m becoming increasingly disturbed on how Belichick seems to enjoy running up the score after the other team has no chance of coming back. There is little class rubbing a vanquished opponent’s nose in the dirt.

First of all, who’s to say the Redskins couldn’t come back? They’re pros, just like the Patriots. Second, from New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick’s perspective, his old NFC East nemesis Joe Gibbs probably deserved every bit that he got and then some.

The Patriots have made Benjamin Kepple’s list of most hated NFL teams:

So, why do the Patriots — a team to which I was formerly somewhat sympathetic — now find themselves on the outs with me? It’s simple. The Patriots were up 38-0 today: 38-0. They were faced with a fourth and one on the Redskins’ seven yard line. Not only was eerily good quarterback Tom Brady still in the game, they went for it — and that led to a sixth touchdown for the squad a little later.

Now to me, that’s sending the Redskins and the rest of the league a particular two-word message. My reaction to this is as one might expect: I love you too.

What can I say? The Patriots happen to have $750,000 worth of love to distribute to the league.

New England Patriots v. Washington Redskins 10/28 2007 game stats t NFL.com.

As is their habit, New England Patriots have once again cut Santonio Thomas to make room for somebody else (exactly is not known at this time). He was cut on September 1 this year, and on September 2 last year, and on August 30 in 2005. I’m sure the Patriots have a couple of more cuts for him in the future, because they’ll probably re-sign him again.

Here’s what head coach Bill Belichick had to say about releasing Thomas during his press conference today:

Q: It terms of Santonio and what he was able to accomplish while he was here, I assume it’s not really a reflection of him personally but was more of a team decision?

BB: Well, all roster moves are, yeah, but we’ll see what happens. He’s been released before, he’s been re-signed, so we’ll see what happens.

Thomas isn’t exactly a household name but like all Patriots players he’s expected to get it done when it matters, as he did against San Diego Chargers in the second game of the 2007 season:

San Diego’s fourth drive was stopped by back-up defensive lineman Santonio Thomas and safety James Sanders on 3rd&1. Thomas stood up and shed tightend Brandon Manumaleuna while the Chargers’ left offensive tackle had to block down on Thomas who was right up on the line of scrimmage.

Who did he stop for no gain? Some guy named LaDanian Tomlinson. So, how good is the 54th best player on your team?

[10/27 update: Patriots cut Thomas to make room for defensive end Richard Seymour who was activated today.

10/29 update: Patriots re-signed Thomas to the practice squad today. They released offensive lineman Pat Ross to make room.
]

Kansas City Star sports columnist Jason Whitlock uses two of America’s obsessions - sports and race - to cook up an eye-brow raising column and sprinkles it with a third: Winning.

In a column on FoxSports.com Whitlock writes:

African-American football players caught up in the rebellion and buffoonery of hip hop culture have given NFL owners and coaches a justifiable reason to whiten their rosters. That will be the legacy left by Chad, Larry and Tank Johnson, Pacman Jones, Terrell Owens, Michael Vick and all the other football bojanglers.

…

In terms of opportunity for American-born black athletes, they’re going to leave the game in far worse shape than they found it.

It’s already starting to happen. A little-publicized fact is that the Colts and the Patriots — the league’s model franchises — are two of the whitest teams in the NFL. If you count rookie receiver Anthony Gonzalez, the Colts opened the season with an NFL-high 24 white players on their 53-man roster. Toss in linebacker Naivote Taulawakeiaho “Freddie” Keiaho and 47 percent of Tony Dungy’s defending Super Bowl-champion roster is non-African-American. Bill Belichick’s Patriots are nearly as white, boasting a 23-man non-African-American roster, counting linebacker Tiaina “Junior” Seau and backup quarterback Matt Gutierrez.

Whitlock is really using race as a proxy for cultural distance from hip hop, but, well, he brought it up, so…

Since one imagines that head coach Bill Belichick factors in everything when he build his team it seems legitimate to ponder the racial make up of the team’s roster, especially since this year’s is no aberration. Way back in 2001, when New England won its first Super Bowl with what possibly was the least talented Super Bowl-winning team ever, I noticed that the Patriots and their Big Game opponents Saint Louis Rams were among the whitest teams in the league. So let’s give it a whirl.

New England Patriots have 22 white players on the current 53-man active roster. 15 of those play on offense, three are special teams specialists (kicker, punter and longsnapper) and only four play on defense (one of them, linebacker Larry Izzo probably gets most of his plays on special teams). As Whitlock points out, there is one more non-African-American on defense, Junior Seau.

Two-thirds of the offensive players are white compared to one-sixth or so of the defensive players. In years past the difference has been a little less pronounced, with a few more whites on defense and a couple of less on offense. On the field, the difference is even bigger this year. The Patriots rarely have fewer than seven white players on the field and on the final clock-killing drives against Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins there was only one black player (tight end Marcellus Rivers) on the field. On defense, it’s not surprising if outside linebacker Mike Vrabel is the only white player on the field.

New England has no white defensive backs and only one white receiver, Wes Welker. Eight of the nine offensive linemen are white (as are both offensive linemen on the practice squad, which is not part of the active roster). Two of the team’s five runningbacks are white, and both of those guys (Heath Evans and Kyle Eckel) are the prototypical plodding fullbacks (though of a more traditional kind than today’s more common strictly lead-blocking and pass-catching fullbacks). The team’s one white tight end is Kyle Brady, who is strong at run blocking but too slow to add much to the passing game (although he frequently runs patterns and almost never pass-protects) while African-American tight end Benjamin Watson is a good receiver who doesn’t add much to the blocking game. One might almost be tempted to suggest that the less speed a position requires, the more likely it is to be filled with a white player.

One theory might be that white players generally are undervalued and therefore can be had at a discount, which would be quite important in this era with the salary cap. However, a hefty chunk of the white contingent on the roster is made up of quarterback Tom Brady and the five quite well-compensated starting offensive linemen (Matt Light, Logan Mankins, Dan Koppen, Stephen Neal and Nick Kaczur). Welker cost the Patriots two draft picks and reportedly $18 million in guaranteed money. By comparison, All-Universe wide receiver Randy Moss cost a fourth-round pick and a couple of mil. Now, that’s value.

What is one to make of Chad Johnson and his impact on his team? Whitlock writes:

Football fans are aware of [Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin] Lewis’ love affair with Chad Johnson, the Flavor Flav of the gridiron. Johnson’s insistence on conducting a minstrel show during games has long been reluctantly tolerated by Lewis. Johnson, I guess, is just too talented, productive and well-compensated for Lewis to discipline. So Lewis has chosen to enable, going as far as making excuses when Johnson’s selfish behavior extended to an alleged locker-room shoving match with coaches (including a swing at Lewis) at halftime of the Bengals’ Jan. 8, 2006 playoff loss to the Steelers.

Coming off an 11-5 regular season and having been crowned the toast of Cincinnati, Lewis responded to that Johnson meltdown by vowing to cut the player who leaked the fight information to the media.

Since then, the Bengals have been one of the league’s biggest disappointments, finishing 8-8 last season and starting 1-4 this season. Injuries have played a significant role in Cincy’s troubles, but so has a lack of on- and off-field discipline and focus. Lewis’ coddling of Chad Johnson has destroyed the chemistry that made the Bengals a playoff team in 2005.

As many Patriots and Bengals fans know, Belichick has lavished praise on Johnson, and not just in the way he’ll describe any lead-footed, concrete-handed fourth-string receiver as a sure-thing future Hall of Famer. No, Belichick speaks of Johnson the way he spoke of Welker last year when the diminutive receiver played for the Dolphins. I have no idea how Belichick views the situation in Cincinnati, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he thinks whatever performance issues the Bengals have are Lewis’s rather than Johnson’s (personally, I’m inclined to blame Lewis, as I suggested after the Patriots @ Bengals Monday Night Football game earlier this season). At any rate, there aren’t many reasons to believe that Belichick would pass up the chance to add Johnson to the roster.

Whitlock also writes:

I’m sure when we look up 10 years from now and 50 percent — rather than 70 percent — of NFL rosters are African-American, some Al Sharpton wannabe is going to blame the decline on a white-racist plot.

For that to happen, every team in the NFL would have to replace one African-American player with one non-African-American player every year, and then replace one more African-American player with one non-African-American player on top of that. That seems quite unlikely unless there is a shift way from today’s emphasis on speed through a number of rule changes. But if those rule changes did happen and made black players relatively less competitive than they are today then I suppose it would not be unreasonable for the wannabe Al Sharptons of the world to pipe up about white-racist plot or what not.

Kansas City Chiefs has 14 white players and Bengals 16 (if I counted correctly). The currently winless Miami Dolphins have 15 white players while the equally winless Saint Louis Rams have 21.

If God doesn’t cut you down the Patriots will.

We cheat and there’s nothing you can do about it
because we’re gonna come in
We’re going to rape your women
we’re going to take your belongings
we’re going to pillage your village
we’re just going to lay you to waste
and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it
because we’re the New England f’ing Patriots and we’re the best and that’s it

Fred Kirsch, PFW In Progress, October 24, 2007

That’s a pretty good rant that Kirsch delivered today. It’s quite reminiscent of the chants we used to yell at ice hockey games when I was a kid back in the Old Country. It speaks to the feeling of being under siege that I think quite a few Patriots fans feel after the excessive punishment the League meted out after the so-called SpyGate.

Sports Illustrated’s Phil Taylor is no doubt right that American sports fans in general are “getting a little tired” of Boston teams winning left and right and I don’t blame them. And he’s right that we’ve “lost something.” Yeah, we’ve lost losing. I don’t miss it.

Young white woman overheard talking to another young white woman at Burlington Mall (that’s Burlington, Massachusetts, and the mall is just a shopping mall):

All the money I made from selling bud went to paying off my credit cards.

Top line: New England Patriots improved their 2007 regular-season record to 7-0 by defeating win-less division rivals Miami Dolphins 49-28 on the road. Tom Brady completed 21 of 25 passes for 354 yards and six touchdowns passes, franchise record for one game. Randy Moss had two touchdown catches, Wes Welker two, Donte Stallworth one and tight end Kyle Brady one. Willie Andrews returned a kick-off 77 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter. For the seventh game in a row Patriots scored on their first drive.

The offensive line: The Patriots had their regular starting offensive line with left tackle Matt Light, left guard Logan Mankins, center Dan Koppen, right guard Stephen Neal and right tackle Nick Kaczur. Kaczur finished the game at left tackle, back-up Ryan O’Callaghan at right tackle and back-up Billy Yates at right guard. There were no injuries involved as far as I know, I think the Patriots just wanted to give a couple of back-ups some snaps.

I’ll bring you the specifics tomorrow but on the two-minute drill before the end of the first half Nick Kaczur and runningback Kevin Faulk put on a clinic against Miami’s pass rush on two of the plays.

The line did give up one sack in the game, mostly because Brady couldn’t bring himself to throw the ball.

The gist: With tight end Benjmin Watson out (nominally with a sprained ankle) used a lot of formations with three wide receivers (Moss, Stallworth and Welker) and tight end Brady. That worked well, and wide receiver Jabar Gaffney did a good job as fourth receiver. Welker finished with nine catches for 138 yards, Moss with four for 122 and Stallworth with three for 51 yards. Moss made another two crazy-style touchdown catches, both in the right side of Miami’s end zone, seen from Patriots offense. He was double-covered both times by Miami and out-jumped and outreached them both times. After the game Brady said during his press conference that he wanted to give Moss a chance to make a play for passes instead of trying to hit him in stride. Well, that adjustment couldn’t have worked out better. Stallworth’s touchdown was also a treat: He caught s short pass, broke one tackle before cutting downfield, then broke two more tackles before sprinting into the endzone for a 30-yard score. Kyle Brady’s two-yard touchdown catch came on second-and-goal out of the goal-line clown formation.

The running game was once again more or less an afterthought, garnering 84 yards on 22 carries. Runningback Laurence Maroney did mange a few plays before leaving the field with yet another of his countless hurties. He had one good run, an eleven-yard run to the right behind a pulling Light.

Tom Brady briefly left the game in the fourth quarter but returned after back-up Matt Cassel threw an ugly interception to Mimi defensive end Jason Taylor who returned the ball 36 yards for a touchdown, cutting New England’s led to 42-21. Brady promptly led his offense on drive that ended with Welker’s second touchdown. The next time New England’s offense took the field third-string quarterback Matt Gutierrez played quarterback. I think Cassel’s already shaky hold on the back-up job is history.

The defense wasn’t particularly impressive, perhaps in part because it wasn’t really challenged with the game on the line.

Bottom line: New England is drifting towards becoming an extremely one-dimensional team with a nearly unstoppable passing game and not a whole lot more.

Miami Dolphins - New England Patriots October 21 game stats at NFL.com.

Reactions:

Lawrence Salberg thinks the game showed how the Patriots can be beaten:

We also never saw Brady once out of the pocket today. That is a key for every team - rush early, rush often, hit late, hit often. Keep Brady on the ropes. Clearly, without him, they have no running game, and they have no other quarterbacks who can make significant contributions.

Interestingly, the Cleveland Browns managed to keep the scoring down by putting little pressure on Brady and instead covering the receivers as much as possible.

The running game should show some signs of life again if and when Sammy Morris returns to action, and if and when the Patriots ditch their fruity zone blocking schemes. But for now it is fair to say New England has little in way of running game.

Omar Kelly at Sun Sentinel’s Miami Dolphis blog looks at the bright side of the Dolphins and asks fans to join in the fun. One fan responds thusly:

Well, I went in to today’s game thinking that it would be the low point in franchise history and given the score at halftime I was right.

Scott Allen Miller is leaving Boston for Albany where he’ll work as morning talk-show host and programming director at WROW. Miller was fired from his talk job at the enigmatic WRKO in Boston in January this year to make way for former Massachusetts speaker of the House Tom Finneran who is himself rumored to be on the way out.

I met Miller last year at a small get-together for right-wingish bloggers in Boston organized by Bruce of No Looking Backwards (the blog formerly knows as mAss Backwards). He struck me as a guy who’d be better suited for a Mountain West market than Boston, but perhaps Albany is a close enough approximation, judging by Miller’s description of it:

…middle class working stiffs, high tech brainiacs, students, immigrants, and scary mountain people.

Yeah, sounds like Colorado to me.

I wish Miller the best of luck.

While Miller is leaving Howie Carr wishes he could. A judge has ruled that Carr must remain with WRKO until 2012 because of some indentured servitude precedent that apparently remains in effect in Massachusetts. The judge has ruled that Entercom has matched a competing offer and therefore renewed the contract between the two parties until 2012. It’s quite insane and I hope to God that the SJC overturns the decision on appeal. If that doesn’t happen, Carr will be forced to remain with a station that is incompetently run and with managers who frankly seem to despise him. Carr has been off-air for weeks during the drawn-out legal battle. It’s quite sad. Yesterday, for example, would have been a great day for Howie Carr, what with Ellen DeGeneres’s bizarre meltdown over a dadgum dog. I can almost hear the Senator Byrd/Ellen DeGeneres mix that Happy would have cooked up for Carr, not to mention Sandy coming to DeGeneres defense. It would have been good.

It’s really strange how WRKO has “kllapsed” (to quote Carr) over the past couple of years. A few years ago the station had a bench so deep that VB was Carr’s fill-in and also had a late-night show. Now things are so desperately bad that Carr’s fill-in is the worst dadgum talk-show host I have ever heard. So Entercom was unhappy with the station’s market position and wanted to shake things up. Fine. I have no problem with that. It’s not as if WRKO exists for my personal pleasure. But for the love of God, why slowly kill programming while insisting on retaining Carr? There’s got to be a profitable AM format other than the old Contemporary Carr and Assorted Crap.

[Thanks to the clairvoyant powers that apparently run in my family I can tell you how Carr's first show back on WRKO will go down, if Carr is forced to return to the station:

Three o'clock hour: Carr invites Boston University's women's basketball team to talk about their season. He greets his guests on-air with a hearty "Hey, bitches, what's up?" An Entercom spokesman explains the phrase as a non-derogatory reference to BU's team name, the Terriers. Jesse Jackson demands an apology. Entercom sues Jackson.

Four o'clock hour: Listeners call in and read aloud their favorite Bible passages. Near the bottom of the hour a Muslim listener calls in with a passage from the Koran. Carr asks him if he's a member of Al-Qaeda as Happy plays A-hab the A-rab. Entercom counter-sues CAIR six seconds before CAIR sues Entercom. Suits and countersuits are filed at such a ferocious pace that every fax machine in every court house on the Eastern Seaboard melts. Both entities accuse each other of being "litigious and unconstructive." Entercom also sues the Muslim caller's telephone company.

Five o'clock hour: 2008 Nobel Prize in Literature winner pool! Every entry is punctuated by an audio clip where some moron yells äntligen!. Three people call. Entercom sues Svenska Akademien for not ever awarding the Prize to popular authors like John Grisham or Danielle Steele.

Six o'clock hour ("the local hour"): Carr interviews a Niki Tsongas campaign worker who goes on and on about the many exciting things that happen when you hold campaign signs for hours on end at a busy intersection. She's calling on a really bad cellphone connection. Entercom sues Tsongas for not being Hillary Clinton.

Seven o'clock: WRKO unveils its new programming masterstroke: Noam Chomsky playing the kazoo.* Entercom sues Chomsky for not playing enough polkas.

Oh my God that's funny, as Gary on PFW In Progress would let me know.]

Anyway, since WRKO killed the Howie Carr show I have been forced to look elsewhere for my late-afternoon radio entertainment, and I’ve found Mike Felger’s show on ESPN 890 AM to be a pretty good replacement. It has good pacing and Felger has a going-against-the-local-stream shtick that suits his general douchebag-turned-jackass persona. His Friday sparring-sessions with New England Patriots players Mike Vrabel and Matt Light are quite entertaining and sometimes even informative. Obviously, sports talk is unbearable after the football season is over, but, hey, that’s several months away.

*I ripped that joke from someone, I can’t remember who.

I’ve added some updates and additional observations and links to my New England Patriots at Dallas Cowboys post. I’m terribly unhappy with how that post came out. My next post will have better structure and hopefully be less rambling. I’m thinking about doing a short podcast for readers who have minutes of commuting to kill. I know you’ve also wanted to hear a Swedish Chef sound-alike talk football. Hoom-hop-dee-doo blitz blitz blitz. I have written a follow-up piece to the one about Assyrians and the Armenian genocide called “Kurds, Poles and Polygamists” but I’m not sure whether to publish it. It’s kind of interesting, I suppose, but the topic can be better handled by more capable people. We’ll see. I have some pictures and wine-tasting reviews from Connecticut in the works, as well. Roger Goodell, the National Football League’s sanctimonious thug with a badge, is talking about playing Super Bowl games overseas. I commented on that moronic idea a few months ago. The second paragraph is really all you need to read.

Finally, something read-worthy on another blog:

Is Fenway Park good for Fenway? My talking-point reaction: What’s the best way for the area to take advantage of the Park’s presence? (Via Universal Hub)

Bonus! Here’s a good joke for people looking for nasty right-wing attacks on Al Gore’s latest prize:

Norway has two things going for it: Oil and awarding Nobel’s Peace Prize. The former is a gift from God and the latter a gift from a Swede.

An unsubstantiated rumor has it that Tennessee Titans have added Mike Elgin to their practice squad. Elgin is an offensive lineman who was drafted by the New England Patriots but was cut on September 2, the big roster reduction day. After that he spent a few weeks on New York Jets practice squad but was released last week. The Titans got a good look of him as he played a pre-season game against them with the Patriots.

(This rumor could be based on a major misunderstanding by multiple people, but this is a blog, dang it, and not some reliable news source with journalistic standards. Have you looked at any pictures of New England Patriots cheerleaders lately?)