'Fins Blogging - TMQ Reader Animadversion Department

This week, Gregg Easterbrook's Tuesday Morning Quarterback column begins with his thoughts on the rapidly-fading star of Brett Favre:

At the risk of quoting myself -- Oscar Wilde said, "I often quote myself, it adds spice to the conversation" -- let me reiterate what I wrote about Favre a year ago: "We'd like to think stellar athletes go out in glory, and occasionally this happens. Yet in many cases legendary athletes depart on a bummer note. In Dan Marino's final game, the Dolphins lost 62-7. In Larry Bird's final game, the Celtics were knocked out of the playoffs as Bird played poorly. On Jim Kelly's final snap, he fumbled in opposing territory late in the Bills' only playoff defeat in Ralph Wilson Stadium history. In Jerry Rice's final game, he had no receptions as his team lost in the playoffs. In Michael Jordan's final game, his team lost by 20 points.

Well, okay. But let me just say one thing in defense of Dan Marino - the 62-7 shellacking the 'Fins received at the hands of Jacksonville in his last game in the 1999 season was not his fault. In fact, the Dolphins had played their guts out to beat Seattle 20-17 in the Wild Card game the previous week, while the Jags had a bye. When the 'Fins got to Jacksonville, they were simply too exhausted to play against such a fresh team, something that was perfectly obvious within about the first five minutes of the game.

So to the extent Gregg suggests that Marino's fade contributed to this loss, I say - LACES OUT, DAN!