I’m a stubborn son of a gun, and if my life plays out like a Shakespearean tragedy, this trait will ultimately be the death of me.

So when a certain regular poster writes this, I have to chuckle:

Someday Mason will proclaim, ‘I’m sorry, you guys were right, benching Plummer sent the Broncos into a 3-year tailspin of disaster!’And we’ll post his picture with a LET PLUMMER PLAY T-shirt at our site!”

Sure I might not be right on everything. But I can guarantee you, chimpanzees will sprout wings, Britney Spears will win an Academy Award and Elizabeth Edwards and Ann Coulter will share a pleasant dinner before I write those words. And you sure won’t get a picture of me in a shirt, either. I’ve got enough T-shirts in my drawers, thank you. (And of course, you posted it in multiple blog entries, just to get your point across.) Besides, if I suffered some kind of blunt-force head trauma that altered my brain waves and caused me to agree with you, do you think I’m going to write those words on the official team Web site?

So this person shan’t hold his breath, for risk of his face turning purple.

And I couldn’t help but notice this message board post which flatters me but says I am “a bit of a jerk.” (Damn, do I love Google.) Can’t make everyone happy, I reckon. I think even my mother might agree with you; she’s said I have no time for people from whom I can’t learn anything. There might be some truth to that; I do have a way of saying in my own mind, “This conversation’s done,” or “This dinner’s done,” and tersely moving on to whatever’s next. My social skills stink, frankly.

Nevertheless, my family loves me and I love them; I’ve got a wonderful group of close friends; my girlfriend hasn’t yet kicked me to the curb and apparently her mother really likes me. So I might be doing okay. Besides, if I can continue to tolerate the postings of LetPlummerPlay with a shrug, a weisenheimer retort and a laugh, then maybe I’m not such a bad guy after all.

So after spraining my shoulder patting myself on the back, it’s “on with the countdown,” as Casey Kasem would say, and a query from archangel77 starts this show:

After reading your posting regarding Coach Shanahan’s Monday press conference I went back to the video and watched it a couple of times. Some of the questions asked and the way Coach Shanahan answered them got me wondering about the protocol of the press corps when their in there. Is there a certain degree of pointedness that you can use when asking the Coach questions and if so where is the line? Also if the line is crossed by a reporter who keeps asking a question that he or she feels is not being answered to their degree of satisfaction, what are the consequences? Are they not allowed to cover the Monday press conference anymore or can they be banned from the team facilities entirely?

There actually is a protocol that most reporters follow — and, by and large, it is about trying to be fair to the subject being queried, whether it is the head coach, an assistant or a player. Sometimes, obviously, questions rub the interviewee the wrong way, especially when they’re phrased indelicately. An example of this came at the end of Shanahan’s postgame press conference, when Sports Illustrated‘s Jim Trotter chimed in from the back of the room.

Trotter: “Did you see any quit out there?”
Shanahan: “No, I didn’t see any quit, did you?”
Trotter: “I saw a couple of guys that maybe didn’t want (to be out there).”
Shanahan: “Oh, I don’t think so. I don’t think you saw any quit.”

Shanahan then reiterated a point he made about the loss being on his shoulders, said “Thanks,” and walked away. Normally, Shanahan will look around and say, “Anything else?” before saying “Thanks” and leaving the podium. Accusing players of quitting — or even inferring the idea — is to attack at the heart of a player or coach’s existence; it’s like a below-the-belt punch in a boxing match. That’s something you just don’t ask right after the worst home loss in nearly 41 years. Emotions are as raw as the second-half weather Sunday. Scabs have yet to form. The blood still squirts from new wounds.

A more gently-worded question in a similar vein was posed of John Lynch – on Tuesday, about 44 hours and a video-watching session later, and the Pro Bowl safety responded thusly:

“I know when games get like that, the appearance can be that people quit. I looked hard at that film. I didn’t see any quit. That’s an encouraging sign. If you see quit you’ve got troubles. Then you don’t have guys you can go to battle with, but I didn’t see that. I saw a lot of not executing, not being where you’re supposed to be and sometimes when you are where you’re supposed to be not making the play but I didn’t see quit and that can be fixed.”