A Day in Sports We'd Rather Forget, Plus a Perplexing Trade

In sports, there are usually things you need to remember. Every once in a while, there are moments you’d rather forget. A few of those moments (both major and minor) manifested on Sunday.

Following the compelling culmination in Detroit (featuring an astounding defensive war, a down-to-the wire finish and an entertaining feud between 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh and Lions head coach Jim Schwartz), the day slowly began to unravel.

It started with the devastating Jason Campbell injury. Campbell threw only nine passes before breaking his collarbone in Sunday’s Al Davis memorial game in Oakland, and now the Raiders are in the midst of mentally preparing themselves for an entire season without their starting quarterback. Campbell is not an All-World quarterback by any means, but as head coach Hue Jackson alluded to in the post-game press conference, his leadership will be greatly missed and the connections he’s built with multiple receivers on the squad cannot be understated. News did come out last night that Campbell is hopeful for a return in six weeks, although initial reports revealed he would be out for the entire season. This seems unlikely, bearing in mind that the injured clavicle is on his right (throwing) side, but none of that seems to matter considering the news that broke this morning.

Carson Palmer has reportedly been dealt to the Raiders for a first-round pick in 2012 and a conditional first-round pick in 2013. Obviously, this is a bold move and an ultimately huge price for a 31 year-old quarterback who has been semi-retired this season. Moreover, he hasn’t been good since 2006, and hasn’t shown signs of decent quarterback play since 2009. Two first-round picks is an insane price for this type of player.

Hue Jackson does attain a long relationship with Palmer, serving as his wide receivers coach in Cincinnati and aided in recruiting Palmer to USC. Jackson has been saying all year that he doesn’t plan to develop for the future with this Raiders team; he wants to win now. So the trade makes sense… if Palmer turns out to be any good. He’s a definite upgrade over second-string quarterback Kyle Boller, but Oakland is now banking on him to be the new franchise quarterback considering the price paid. Unless Palmer stinks up the Coliseum in the half-season he’ll serve this year, Jason Campbell is inevitably out and his expired contract won’t be picked up. Palmer was acquired for too many assets to just be let go or for Campbell to be re-signed next season. Campbell has been implicitly undercut and it’s completely unfair.

Jackson is going to be a victim of his impatience if Palmer doesn’t work out, and the odds say this won’t work out. The old-fashioned Oakland Raiders reclamation project is a factor here, and the locker room is probably a little relieved now that there will be some experience under center, but it’s uncertain if it will even come close to panning out. The optimism: Palmer will be an experienced supplement to a good, young team, will have the best running back he’s ever had (McFadden) behind him, the fastest receivers he’s ever had and probably the best system he's ever experienced. The pessimism: one of my best friends (and the only Bengals fan I know) sarcastically wished me luck after the trade broke headlines. Not a good sign.

From Campbell’s injury on out, Sunday’s NFL afternoon games just got plain weird. The New England Patriots dished out an exceedingly atypical performance, headlined by four turnovers and Tom Brady’s two interceptions. The Cowboys didn’t play particularly well either and struggled to adequately capitalize on turnovers. The end result was a 20-16 Patriots win that didn’t seem completely right.

To illuminate how weird of a performance it was for New England: The Patriots failed to score 30 points or more for the first time in 13 straight games; only threw for 6.6 yards per pass; lost the turnover and time of possession battles although it felt like they were trying to solidify a rushing attack all game and never threw deep; scored with 7:34 remaining in the third quarter and didn’t score again until 22 seconds left in the game. It was a game both the Patriots and Cowboys would like to forget, considering Dallas had every chance in the world to win it. It just so happened that that last New England score with 22 seconds left was the conclusion to a masterful final drive by Tom Brady. And, in the end, that’s all they really needed.

It got weird again in Tampa Bay, when it seemed as though one of two things became apparent: Either the Buccaneers know how to make opponents play bad when they come to Tampa, or New Orleans was just in flux once head coach Sean Payton went down with an injury on the sidelines. His torn meniscus and broken tibia weren’t enough to keep him off the sidelines for at least a while, but he eventually left the game. Drew Brees and Payton have an untouchable quarterback-coach connection that very few teams in the NFL attain. Was the loss of that duo the reason Brees threw three interceptions? Was it the reason he tarnished a possible fourth-quarter win with an interception in the endzone, which did the reverse and sealed a win for the Bucs? Or are the Bucs just a better team than we think despite their embarrassing shellacking to the 49ers in week five? Whatever the answer may be, it was a weird game. It would’ve capped off the weird day if it wasn’t for the prime time match-up between the Vikings and Bears, which I slept through. Who schedules these night games again?

But the day wouldn’t be one we would like to forget if it was just plain weird and nothing else. Although we would like to forget Sunday’s sporting events for many reasons, the tragic events that happened at Las Vegas Motor Speedway will never be forgotten. What transpired was one of the most horrific crashes in the history of IndyCar racing, and Dan Wheldon was sadly the primary victim of the 15-car incident. Wheldon died in the wreck due to significant head injuries that he was unable to recover from. The entire racing world seemed to stop once the news broke, and virtually every driver was saddened and humbled by the moment. IndyCar ended the race and ensued a five-lap salute in his honor.

The biggest fear in racing happened on Sunday, and it happened in a ghastly manner. Whether IndyCar will continue to run on ovals is up in the air, but as five-time Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson alluded to yesterday, there’s just no need to. Racing in general is already in a tough spot, and recognizing the perils of such an exhilarating sport is another step towards getting out of that rut. As Sunday’s events depicted, racing’s tragedies are always right around the corner.

Sometimes it’s best not to forget things.