Jason Whitlock - Hack

Congratulations Jason Whitlock. You've finally made my list of hacks. You now join the elite list of hacks that I keep. Currently on the list is SI bloger Andrew Perlof plus the Houston Chronicle's columnists Jerome Solomon and Longhorn mouthpiece and Vince Young sack massager Richard Justice. Steve Rushin, formerly of Sports Illustrated, once held a spot here. Over the his last few years at SI I removed his name off the list. He writing and story telling improved leaps and bounds. Then he was let go. I'm still puzzled by that move.

But back to Whitlock. Whitlock is Foxsports.com's angry black man. Whitlock's writing is a mixed bag. He can be thought provoking, funny, angry and occasionally praise people. I like someone who has a different take and has some teeth to his writing. Whitlock sometimes can be very good. Whitlock sometimes can be very bad. I gave him plenty of leeway when reading him because of his sometimes thought provoking writing.

After reading this week's column and taking in his Ball St. campaign, I have no choice but to officially consider him a bonafide hack.

His NFL Truths this week couldn't be anything further from the truth.

Point ten - He places the blame of the Colts playoff loss on Peyton Manning. Like him I used to consider Manning a Class A choke artist. Then he won a Super Bowl. I don't consider him a choke artist anymore. He's not the most successful playoff quarterback to ever live but he isn't the worst playoff quarterback either. If you want to talk choke artist then talk about Tony Romo. Not many choke artists win Super Bowls.

In the same point, he exonerates Tony Dungy of any responsibility of the playoff loss. Quoting Whitlock's words,"He (Dungy) was resurrected from Tampa to make Indy's defense good enough to win in the postseason." Yet in his seventh NFL Truth he sings the praises of Darren Sproles. Sproles ripped that vaunted Dungy Colts defense and special teams for 328 all purpose yards.

To say that Manning is to blame and not Dungy is asinine. Manning only threw for 310 yards and a touchdown. What else does Whitlock want? For Manning to put on a cape and fly to the endzone? I put the blame more on Dungy and not making any adjustments to try and slow down Sproles. Or is Sproles so good that Dungy can't stop him? Sproles was having a one man parade on the Colts defense and special teams. But that's Peyton Manning's fault? Manning wasn't out there to make the tackles on Sproles.

There is plenty of blame to go around. The nonexistent running game, Sproles exposing the Colts defense and Tony Dungy are all to blame. Placing the blame solely on Manning is pretty weak and I'm no Manning fan.

I agree of his assessment of Matt Millen appearing on NBC. I was screaming R. Lee Emory Full Metal Jacket style at my TV for Millen to get the f**k off my screen. I take exception though to him comparing Millen to ESPN's Rick Reilly. Reilly is one of the best sports writers around. Reilly funny, thought provoking, off beat, some times irreverent and just damn good. And comparing Millen to O.J Simpson is definitely a stretch. Yes Millen is the worst general manager in the history of the NFL. Millen though didn't kill his ex-wife (allegedly by some) or go storming into a hotel room with buddies and guns to repo sports memorabilia. That's definitely a low blow that even Millen doesn't deserve.

Finally, what the hell is going on in the world when I come to the defense of Manning and Millen. I think my mind is going to melt.