MG Remembers...

I experienced my first crisis of conscience while listening to John Dennis talk about a Patriots game. Specifically, D&C were analyzing a play late in the 4th quarter, in which a scrambling Tom Brady sought to conserve precious seconds of game-time.

Anyway, Dino wondered aloud why Brady ran out of bounds 2 yards shy of the first down. When all he had to do was stay inbounds, pick up the first down, and the clock would stop for the chains to be moved.

Um............what?

How could Dennis think that the NFL stops the clock on first downs? Everyone knows this is a college rule. I mean, even people who don't really follow football know it's college-only. Hell, the Guatemalan girl who used to clean my cage at the zoo--she's never watched a down of American football in her life--and she knows the NFL doesn't stop the clock on first downs.

So how the hell could the co-host of a major sports radio show not know that?

I remember being shaken and confused. But more than that, I was embarrassed for John. Especially when a caller pointed out the gaffe. John quickly changed the subject, yelled at the caller, and hung up on him (standard operating procedure), but his voice was unusually shrill. You could hear his humiliation.

Sigh. It's never fun when your heroes stumble.