“Mike Alstott” And Vacation Man Spar
June 27th, 2009
Lorenzo Neal was more valuable than Mike Alstott?
Mike Alstott is a near god in the Tampa Bay area. His humble demeanor, punishing running and blue collar approach to the game endeared him to Bucs fans forever.
But maybe not to Vacation Man of BSPN.com.
In discussing various top players at their positions for their teams, Vacation Man approached heresy in the Tampa Bay area for stating Lorenzo Neal was the best fullback in recent history for the Bucs, not Alstott.
As one can imagine, Vacation Man drew some criticism as a result. Surprising, one source of critique came from “Mike Alstott.”
Mike alstott (Tampa): I cant beleive this pat !!! How could I not be the FB on the all decade team !!! I truly feel my skills and the way I played the game were overlooked …
Vacation Man: You could run some, but you weren’t a great blocker.
mike alstott (Tampa): I put fear into def’s, Ran over anyone and my 3yrd missle launches into the endzone will be on highlight reels for yrs to come … No other FB in the decade can compare lets be real !!!
Vacation Man: Lorenzo Neal was a much better blocker and that’s what fullbacks are supposed to do.
While Vacation Man has a valid point, the greatest thing an offense can do is move the ball. Hard to win many games if an offense can’t score, just ask Father Dungy. While it’s great to have a crushing blocker at fullback, it’s more important to have a guy that can move the chains.
How many rings does Neal have again? Oh, yes, Joe thought that was correct. That would be zero.
June 27th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Tell Pat he sucks. Saying that Lo Neal is better than Mike Alstott is like saying Charles McRae was better than Paul Gruber
June 27th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
While Neal was an intricate part of a few offensive backfields he certainly never has had the impact of a key ball carrier or TD sure thing in short yardage. Alstott played his entire career as a running FB with the Bucs. He would probably never had gotten a chance to show his stuff had Errict Rhett not held out that year and eventually sat while the A-train made his mark. Neal is a perrineal journeyman. I wish the Bucs could have kept him but that was not to be. He was valuable but not nearly as valuable as the TD’s, yardage and PR. Yes the Pr gave the Bucs a national audience which helped our momentum for years to come. The Bucs are no longer synonymous with losing in large part due to Mike Alstott. You can’t even gauge that kind of value.
June 27th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
As a “pure” fullback (a blocker), Lo Neal is better… Alstott was not a fullback. He was a monster RB who lined up at FB. It’s an apples and oranges comparison. There’s no question that Alstott was a more valuable all-around player, but that was not the criteria.
June 27th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
Hey Pat, suck on this……
June 27th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
How bout them Lightning. I am totally down with the 2 top picks. Just what the Doctor ordered. Go Bolts!!!
June 27th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
How clever of you to put “Mike Alstott” in quotations but you should have been clearer to your readers in reporting that it was not the real Mike Alstott and only a fan using a player name (which occurs regularly) on Pat’s ESPN blog. Very misleading journalism…..pretty low, actually.
June 27th, 2009 at 11:36 pm
CyberDilemma:
That’s exactly why Joe had the poster’s moniker in quotation marks. If Joe truly wanted to be misleading, he wouldn’t have used the quotation marks.
June 28th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Cyber you’re in a dilemma yourself. Who says it wasn’t me who wrote in to ESPN. I mean how would YOU feel if Lorenzo Neal was picked over you as FB of the decade?
Oh that’s right YOU don’t play ball all YOU do is rag on us who did and writes like Joe…petty low actually 😉
Heck I come here all the time to see what Joe writes – just ask my BFF Captain Winslow’s wife – see comes here as well.
June 28th, 2009 at 7:55 pm
Good Job Mikey. Next time spell your name correctly. Sheez…..