By now, everyone who has any interest in NFL pre-season games has seen the film of the partial left shoulder dislocation suffered by the Washington Redskins’ star running back, Clinton Portis, last weekend. If you haven’t seen the clip, you’ve certainly read about it.

Or, if you watched ESPN’s Monday Night Football telecast, you heard new commentator, Tony Kornheiser, leverage the injury as justification to blather on and on about the evils of the length of the pre-season, despite it offering him a nice employment opportunity.

Anyway, for the record, Portis was injured during his team’s initial pre-season game while making a tackle on an enemy interceptor. An MRI diagnosis confirmed that Portis’ partially-dislocated shoulder does not require surgery, just rest, allaying the fears of tens of thousands of Redskins fans and fantasy players.

Rather than leave it there, Portis used the platform created for him by the injury to speak out against the four-game length of the NFL’s pre-season and remind us all of the primadonna nature of today’s athlete.

"I don't know why myself or any other player of my caliber should be playing in the preseason," Portis complained to the press. "I think for the last four years I've done enough to show the world I'm going to be ready for the season."

Hey, I can understand why the guy is frustrated.

And, maybe Portis doesn’t care that new associate head coach, Al Saunders, brought with him new terminology and player assignments to the Skins’ offensive system that might require a few reps on the field, even for a one-time Pro-Bowl player like Portis.

Still, I could have let it pass. But, Portis didn’t stop there.

"For whoever's watching: Let's get rid of some of these games. Four pre-season games are ridiculous. Then you play a 16-game season and the playoffs behind that. Knowing I'm going to carry the ball 350 times, you want to avoid as much wear and tear as possible.

"The pre-season games should be for guys who are unproven and even then, they don't need four games because most of them aren't going to be around that long," Portis concluded.

Unfortunately, his argument doesn’t hold water.

Sure, the pre-season could and probably should be shorter. But, that has almost nothing to do with Portis’ current misfortune.

You see, the injury occurred early in his first game. Even there was only a one-game pre-season, Portis would surely see time in it, as his idea that because of his status, he shouldn’t play at all before the regular season is totally impractical.

Actually in this case, considering his logic, the timing of the injury actually has helped Portis avoid all those additional worthless pre-season hits. Reports are that he will need to rest for the remainder of the pre-season but it is hoped he will be ready for the start of regular-season play.

After all, in a way, that is what Portis wanted in the first place.

Now, Clinton, please just be quiet, complete your rehab and play ball, like you are paid most handsomely to do. And Tony, consider thinking through what you’re going to say before you say it.

Never mind on that last point. It is going to be a long 2006 season, for sure…