Rarely in life are there chances to atone for mistakes made. Like no matter how much I want to, there is absolutely no way I can go back to a time BEFORE I spent all of my first communion money on an authentic Vin Baker jersey. And if I had the chance to say 'no' to the question 'want to play some flip cup?' the night before finals my junior year in Stevens Point, I probably would have. But I can't. No one can. All you can do is look back at it, hopefully learn from it, and when the situation presents itself again make a better choice/make the same mistake twice.

The NFL however has one of those rare chances today friends. From the Journal Sentinel:

'For the first time since the award was first given out in 1967, The Associated Press has decided to have its voters decide again which player should be named the 2009 NFL defensive rookie of the year.'

This comes after news broke last week that the player that HAD been named the defensive rookie of the year, Texans linebacker Brian Cushing, had tested positive for a banned substance in September of 2009 and will be suspended for the first four games of the 2010 season. Wait....September of 2009? Like at the beginning of the season LAST YEAR? Really NFL? I think paperwork moves faster at Initech than it does at NFL headquarters. Guess they didn't get the memo about the TPS reports.

Well either way this means that the door is open for Matthews to claim what one brilliant, well written, and handsome blogger wrote about him after the Steelers 5 months ago:

'- Clay Matthews had two more sacks yesterday (should have been three), ho-hum, 10 sacks on the year and relentless pressure on the QB. He should have the defensive rookie of the year on lock, but has he entered into the NFL defensive player of the year conversation? How much fun is Dom Capers having with this kid in his 3-4 defense? It's like getting pocket aces in hold'em on every hand.'

I won't go over how many pages of bad/insane predictions I have put in this blog in between then and now, but you get the point. This award should have been given to him initially, and now the those that vote on the award have a chance to do so. Because I would argue that there weren't many defensive players in the NFL, let alone rookies, that had more impact plays than Clay did in 2009/10. Apparently voting wraps up at 11am tomorrow, is that enough time to get a "Matthews for Defensive Rookie of the Year Part 2" facebook fan page going? If it worked for Betty White......bonus word: clay.

PS: I guess we could just email the NFL this video package. But at the rate this Cushing character's positive test came to light, Clay probably wouldn't get the award until 2015: