Len Crapsquarelli

For some reason, Redskins fans hate this guy. I dunno what their problem is--after all, who in the sportswriting world doesn't call out Cerrato/Gibbs/Snyder for their collective suckassery? No, Len has his favorites, sure--like the Pittsburgh Steelers, a real man's team--and a few that he doesn't appreciate as much.

Like my Denver Broncos.

Now, I admit that I hate the "everyone's against my team!" bullshit as strongly as my two co-bloggers. But in this case, I'm right. Pasquarelli has even admitted it.

Jim Armstrong, local sports columnist (referenced in my previous post) here in Denver and a Len-friend, said on air a few months back that Mr. 'Squarelli does indeed dislike Mike Shanahan. Which only confirmed my suspicions.

I recall seeing Len on ESPN a few years back talking about the zone-blocking scheme we employ, a few days after one of our linemen injured the Chargers' Jamal Williams (on purpose, naturally, because Bronco players are coached to injure). He was practically pissing himself in righteous indignation: "Fah! Zone-blocking pussies. Cheap shot artists. Why can't they play with some spine? What Would Cowher Do?" And on, and on, and on....

As it happens, Len is a Pittsburgher. And a proud one. A proud Pittsburgher with no problem making excuses for the Rooney family or the franchise. (See his column a few years back where he claimed that, during a clearly sparsely-attended, bad weather/late season matchup, Steelers fans did not leave their tickets for the comfort of home--no, they were standing in the aisles! It's a Pittsburgh tradition, you know. Standing. The game was a sellout. They were there. Standing.) His remarks came on the heels of Mr. Cowher's condemnation of the same injury, which were accompanied by a dismissal of the zone-blocking principle itself as unmanly.

So the porcine Pasquarelli must have felt that he, as a stand-up Pittsburgher, had to go to his boy Cowher's side. But is that why he dislikes Shanahan, and by extension our hometown squad?

Or is because, after Shanny gave his now-famous (at least in my house) presentation for the media where he showed clips of a whole passel of teams--most hilariously, Those Tough Guy Steelers--employing zone-blocking, he realized that he looked like an even bigger ass than that mug shot makes him appear?

I like to think so...but then, I'm a fucking Bronco fan. I also think the U.S. Government had something to do with Al Wilson's failed physical.

And besides: how could Len look like a bigger ass?