Talking Points Memo’s Rachel Slajda reports the Bowl Championship Series, still smarting from the poor public response to their Tweeting endeavors, have enlisted former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer to quash the nationwide hate-fest.
“Playoff advocates have had an easy ride where they have never been called on to explain exactly how they would create an alternative. There is tremendous division among playoff advocates,” Fleischer told Politico. “While the BCS has its share of critics, once people see both sides of the issue, they will see why the system has its great support.”
Fleischer’s firm specializes in media training for sports organizations, offering interview prep, crisis management training and other services. He’s worked for Major League Baseball and Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association, among others, according to his firm’s web site.
Watching Big Ben spend most of Sunday afternoon flat on his back, covered in red jerseys is the sort of thing that would send even the most mild-mannered of Steelers fans into a frenzy. Not a dog-kicking frenzy, but a frenzy just the same. Sadly, in the case of a Bridgeville, PA (subhu)man, any distraction prior to yesterday’s Chiefs/Steelers tilt was considered justification for the brutal murder of a pit bull puppy. From the Post-Gazette’s Jim McKinnon :
William Woodson, 22, is being held on $25,000 bail in the Allegheny County Jail, pending a preliminary hearing on animal cruelty at 1 p.m. next Monday before District Judge Elaine McGraw in Bridgeville.
The puppy, a 13-week-old pit bull named Flip, had been the focal point of recent arguments between Mr. Woodson and his girlfriend, Christine Gielarowski, 21, with whom Mr. Woodson lives on Jane Way.
Ms. Gielarowski told police her boyfriend kicked the dog because the pup would not walk with them. When the near lifeless dog no longer was able to move, Mr. Woodson walked away from it and his girlfriend, she told police.
According to the affidavit, Mr. Woodson said he argued with Ms. Gielarowski about buying the dog to live at their residence.
“He admitted the dog would not behave prior to the Steelers game and that he became upset at it,” according to the affidavit.
Though Boston’s Northeastern University has produced such sporting ’sphere icons as Reggie Lewis, Chris Nilan, Carlos Pena, the late Will McDonough and Don Orsillo, Sean Jones and Dan Ross, aside, the school has never been widely known as a football hotbed. As such, it will surprise few to learn that some 14 years after Boston University pulled the plug on their college football program, Northeastern’s trustees voted Friday to take similar action. From the Boston Globe’s Andrew Ryan :
President Joseph E. Aoun and the board of trustees endorsed the move Friday after an extensive, two-year review of the athletic program by its director, Peter Roby. The decision to eliminate football follows six straight losing seasons and sparse game attendance at a school whose ice rink often sells out for hockey.
Northeastern football did not fall victim to the recession or a fund-raising crunch, university officials said. Instead, school officials came to terms with the hard truth that the $3 million-plus annual program needed more help – millions more each year – than Northeastern wanted to give.
Northeastern first took to its gridiron in Brookline in 1933. The program produced more than a dozen NFL players and boasts three undefeated seasons, including an 8-0 run in 1963. The last highlight came in 2002 when the Huskies racked up a school record 10 wins, a share of their first Atlantic 10 title, and a trip to the NCAA playoffs.
But the team has not posted a winning record since coach Rocky Hager took over in 2004. If the school did field a team next year, college officials said, it probably would have involved an expensive national search for a new coach and stepped-up recruiting.
…rest assured, he’s got much more to say than merely offering a limo ride to a Bon Jovi concert. More quality work from Nick Stevens, though I think we all know the real Bill Belichick doesn’t sound nearly this excited.
The Daily Revelle’s Xerxes A. Wilson writes the Klu Klux Klan are coming to Oxford, MS for tomorrow’s LSU / Ole Miss clash, and they’re not looking for Jevon Snead’s autograph.
Shane Tate, the North Mississippi great titan for the Mississippi White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, confirmed via e-mail the KKK will rally on Ole Miss’ campus in protest of the Ole Miss Chancellor Dan Jones’ decision to remove “From Dixie with Love” from the Ole Miss band’s song selection.
The controversy began last month when the Ole Miss Associated Student Body passed a resolution in favor of discontinuing chanting “the South will rise again” to replace it with “to hell with LSU.” The resolution was never fully enacted because it was not signed by the proper officials after passing the senate, said Peyton Beard, Ole Miss Associated Student Body director of athletics.
The student section largely ignored the resolution and other attempts to stop the chant, continuing the chant during “From Dixie with Love,” said Ole Miss English junior Dean Julius.
“We are coming to Ole Miss to say enough is enough on attacking our Christian, southern heritage and culture, and it’s time for every person to have a right to freedom of speech,” Tate said.
“We aren’t coming there to cause problems or cause trouble,” Tate said. “Trouble has already been caused by a handful at Ole Miss, including the black student body president, who wants to shape Ole Miss into yet another liberal sodomite college.”
Sorry, I just can’t get enough of using the phrase, “skull doc” Barely a week goes by without the New York Times’ Allan Schwartz reporting on findings that draw ties between NFL head injuries and one-way tickets to Vegetable City. On Friday, Schwartz reports the NFLPA, less than alarmed when Gene Upshaw was running the show, is pushing for the dismissal of the league’s concussion expert, Dr. Ira Casson.
The viewpoints and role of Casson, the league’s primary voice trying to discredit independent and league-sponsored evidence that has linked N.F.L. careers with heightened risk for dementia and cognitive decline, were a particular point of contention at last month’s hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on football brain injuries.
Several committee members criticized Casson for his stated opinions on the matter as well as his leading the N.F.L.’s study of retired players.
When a league-sponsored phone survey made public in September found that N.F.L. retirees were reporting diagnoses of dementia and other memory-related diseases at several times the rate of the national population, Casson responded, “What I take from this report is there’s a need for further studies to see whether or not this finding is going to pan out.”
Casson has said that the league’s study of retired players, which he has led since its beginning in 2007, will provide the only reliable evidence on the matter to date when it is published in 2012 or 2013.
That study has been criticized by several outside experts in epidemiology and dementia research, who said the study’s 120 subjects would be too few to find any link, and that Casson’s role in it — he is conducting every player’s neurological exam personally — was improper as a matter of medical ethics.
Two former players, meanwhile, confirmed a Rivals.com report that during a practice confrontation with former receiver Raymond Brown, whose brother had recently been shot and hospitalized, Mangino told the player, “Don’t yes sir me, or I will send you back to St. Louis so you can get shot with your homies.”
“What I would say is sometimes his temper came off in a way that wasn’t constructive, which is where you run into trouble as a coach,” said former fullback Austine Nwabuisi. “He was just trying to be ugly as a coach, as opposed to being constructive or motivational.”
Former linebacker Joe Mortensen indicated he suffered a knee injury as a result of disciplinary measures taken after he chose to spend a week at home following the Orange Bowl instead of returning to Lawrence to undergo MCL surgery on his right knee.
When he returned to Lawrence, Mortensen says, he was subjected to three months of early-morning drills that involved putting significant pressure on his good leg. Eventually, he tore his left ACL, an injury he attributes to the amount of strain he was forced to put onto the leg as punishment.
In June of 2007, Mangino (above, left) received a ticket from KU Parking and Transit for parking his vehicle in the loading zone south of Parrott Athletic Center — the 23rd time he had been ticketed for parking in the space.
Donna Hultine, director of KU Parking and Transit, reported that the particular ticket had spurred Mangino to track down the student employee who had written the ticket and launch a 10-minute, expletive-filled “tirade” so loud that it drew several employees out of nearby Allen Fieldhouse to watch.
“He screamed, yelled and cussed for a while and then got out of his car and screamed, yelled and cussed 6 inches from the student’s face,” Hultine said, in an e-mail to her boss at Strong Hall, Vice Provost Jim Long.
Contacted Tuesday, Hultine said she was pleased with the athletics department’s quick response to her complaints. Indeed, she said, Mangino hasn’t been ticketed since the incident and even has gone out of his way this season to be cordial to Parking and Transit employees when he sees them.
“It tells me that he’s willing to play by the rules and if he’s at least changed his behavior towards us, that’s great,” she said.
But two years ago, Hultine said, she was concerned for the very safety of her employees.
“I didn’t want to put any of my folks in his path,” Hultine said Tuesday. “Based on that incident, I knew what he was capable of. I had to stop it. I needed it to be addressed.”
[Not haircuts! Those are Gladwell and Pinker's actual brains, which no human skull can contain.]
This Sunday, The New York Times published Harvard Prof Steven Pinker’s review of Malcolm Gladwell’s, “What the Dog Saw.” Gladwell is a statistician of “minor genius,” in Pinker’s view, but MG is just wrong to cite analysis from two scientists that “quarterbacks taken in positions 11 through 90 in the draft actually slightly outplay those more highly paid and lauded players taken in the draft’s top ten positions.”
In his posted reply today, Gladwell calls Pinker a Harvard motherfucker “accomplished,” if still stuck on “the lonely ice floe of IQ fundamentalism.” Yes he went there! Come on, you knew that was coming!
It was Gladwell in 2005 who ripped apart the whole notion of Harvard elitism in hisNew Yorker piece, “Getting In,” so you know It’s On. Thus, Pinker finds himself on the business end of a Gladwell quadruple-digit IQ blast, race card included:
I wondered about the basis of Pinker’s conclusion, so I e-mailed him, asking if he could tell me where to find the scientific data that would set me straight. He very graciously wrote me back. He had three sources, he said. The first was Steve Sailer. Sailer, for the uninitiated, is a California blogger with a marketing background who is best known for his belief that black people are intellectually inferior to white people. Sailer’s “proof” of the connection between draft position and performance is, I’m sure Pinker would agree, crude: his key variable is how many times a player has been named to the Pro Bowl. Pinker’s second source was a blog post, based on four years of data, written by someone who runs a pre-employment testing company, who also failed to appreciate—as far as I can tell (the key part of the blog post is only a paragraph long)—the distinction between aggregate and per-play performance. Pinker’s third source was an article in the Columbia Journalism Review, prompted by my essay, that made an argument partly based on a link to a blog called “Niners Nation” which in turn makes reference to a “study” of quarterbacks conducted by a fantasy football website. I have enormous respect for Professor Pinker, and his description of me as “minor genius” made even my mother blush. But maybe on the question of subjects like quarterbacks, we should agree that our differences owe less to what can be found in the scientific literature than they do to what can be found on Google.
Maybe the Twinkie defense that got Dan White a reduced sentence after assasinating the mayor of San Francisco and a city councilman named Harvey Milk might work. A Bay area shrink named Martin Blinder convinced a jury that White’s “capacity for rational thought” had been diminished by eating junk food so maybe there’s a defense for anything. Anybody check Belichick’s lunch box?
With 2:08 to play and a decision to be made, Belichick made the kind of choice Shemp would have made because even Larry and Moe would know better. He turned to his defense and said, “To fight this Lord Manning, strong enough you are not.”
At that moment, on an evening when Randy Moss and Tom Brady [stats] played out of their minds, Bill Belichick went out of his mind. The decision he had to make, in the opinion of NBC analyst and former Colts head coach Tony Dungy, really was no decision at all. It was a no-brainer. For a genius that can be a problem.
“As much as you respect Peyton Manning you have to punt the ball,” Dungy said.
Mere mortals punt downfield and try to put as much real estate between their end zone and Manning’s right arm. Geniuses commit hubris instead.
Tom Brady defended Belichick’s call after the game, citing his coach’s “confidence in the team”. On this occasion, said confidence didn’t extend to the New England defense.
The 86-year-old owner made an appearance on the sideline in the closing minutes, and even did a little dance as the Titans capped a 41–17 victory.
Then he turned toward the Buffalo sideline and gave the Bills the middle finger. Make that two middle fingers — Adams was using both hands.
Earlier Adams, who lives in Houston, flashed a “hook em’ horns” sign to fans in the West sideline seats.
Wyatt apparently didn’t notice Kerry Collins making similar gestures in Adams’ direction. Possibly because it never happened, but we can always hope, right?
“We’ve disappointed our fans so far this season, and I’m as disappointed as they are,” said team Owner Daniel M. Snyder. “I understand that some fans want to express their feelings with signs and they should do so, as long as they stay within the boundaries of good taste and don’t block the view of other fans.”
Washington is tied at 14 with Denver after one half in DC today ; clearly, a free and open exchange of ideas is adequate substitution for Clinton Portis.
I’ve fallen a tad out of touch with the video exploits of Nick Stevens, but if the above clip is anything to go, the recent NESN fixture hasn’t lost a step. I don’t know what’s up with former Colts head coach/spiritual advisor to backup QB’s Tony Dungy, but Cliff Richard’s secret to phenomenal physical fitness was skipping lunch (link courtesy Sox & Dawgs)
3 University of Tennessee recruits of Lane Kiffin — WR Nu’Keese Richardson (above, left), safety Janzen Jackson and DB Mike Edwards — were charged with attempted robbery of a Knoxville convenience store earlier today. Calling the alleged incident, “one of the dumbest crimes in the history of UT football’s criminal activities”, the Tennessean’s Mike Jones urges Kiffin to make an example of the trio, serving as judge and jury while insisting the felonious act was “perpetrated by three freshman football players.”
The skill-level of the players enhances Kiffin’s opportunity. He wouldn’t be cutting loose borderline players who might never make a meaningful contribution to UT football. He would be booting three promising players — including, in Jackson, a starter and potential freshman All-American.
But it’s not a hard choice. This wasn’t a drunk player fallen asleep at a McDonald’s drive-thru. It wasn’t an “error in judgment.” It wasn’t “hanging out with the wrong crowd.”
It was a premeditated crime. With a gun.
They didn’t just break the law. They broke a trust with their teammates and coaches.
The rest of the team didn’t deserve this. I feel sorry for them, rather than the knuckleheads who couldn’t resist the temptation of hitting up convenience-store patrons for spare change.
I’m only guessing the victims had spare change since the police report states their wallets were empty.
The three stooges really cased the joint, didn’t they? Based on all the thought that went into the crime, guess they didn’t know Pilot is owned by Jim Haslam, one of the university’s and football program’s greatest supporters. That’s “Haslam” as in Haslam Field, where the team practices daily.
Unwittingly, Jones might’ve done Richardson, Edwards and Jackson a huge favor. Assuming anyone still reads the newspaper, lawyers for the students ought to argue they can no longer expect a fair trial locally.
“The Memphis football program is an utterly indistinguished, barely mediocre program that lives off SEC rejects and has no hope of improving unless the university makes radical changes,” writes the Commercial-Appeal’s Geoff Calkins, quoting himself after head coach Tommy Smith’s exit interview (above) left few bridges (fans, press, adminstration) unburned.
West said exactly what needed to be said. He said exactly what the Memphis administration — especially president Shirley Raines and athletic director R.C. Johnson — try their best not to hear.
“History will continue to repeat itself, folks, if they don’t do something about it,” he said. “Whoever they hire, they’ll hire a good guy, OK? And I’ll pull for him. But our fans have got to demand — you have to do one of two things. You have to demand that you give him an equal stick to fight with within our conference. You gotta give him a level playing field to fight. Give him that!”
By the end of his remarks, West’s voice was shaking. The assembled media members watched, stunned.
Johnson didn’t say he had a plan to transform facilities. He didn’t say he understood Memphis would have to be much more aggressive in the coming years.
He said, “I think this is a good situation.”
Er, why?
“I just think being in a populated area gives us a head start on some people,” he said.
Riiight. Because big cities are known for their college football teams.
While I’ll presume John Riggins’ next Billy Jack-meets-The Unabomber You Tube video is still in production, Washington’s 31-17 loss to Atlanta was especially notable for the healing hands of Falcons coach Mike Smith coming somewhere near the pretty features of his former player / current Redskin DeAngelo Hall. Postgame, Hall promised reporters (including the Fredricksburg Times’ Rich Campbell), “I’m going to be giving Commissioner Goodell a call.”
Q: What did you see?
“It’s different when a coach comes over there to break guys up. When a coach comes over there to put his hands on you in a harmful way, something needs to be done about that. And like I said, I’m going to call Commissioner Goodell. Ray Anderson used to be with Atlanta. I know him very well from there. He’s the vice president [of football operations] over there in the league office. I’ll definitely going to be calling some of my friends to figure out what we can do about the situation.”
Q: Just to be clear, you’re saying Mike Smith put his hands on you in a harmful way?
“Oh yeah. He put his hands on me in a harmful way, talking about how he’s going to kick my [butt] and all this other [stuff], and that ain’t how you do things. It’s a different story if he’s coming in there to break a fight up. Him and [Falcons director of athletic performance] Jeff Fish, the strength and conditioning coach. It’s a different thing when you come in and try to break things up, as opposed to coming in and trying to put your hands on somebody. Fish had the nerve to signal to me on the sideline how strong he is (Hall imitates Fish by flexing his biceps and pointing to it). Because he was putting his hands on me, pushing me, you know what I mean? Pushing and grabbing at me and all this other [stuff]. Like I said, something is going to be done about it. Trust me. Trust me. Trust me.”
A few days ago, ESPN’s Rob Neyer linked to a CSTB item, and if you don’t think I was thrilled at such acknowledgment, you’ve no idea how easily impressed I am. But that was just a tiny hyperlink. Imagine, if you will, the reactions of Pro Football Talk’s Michael Florio and Michael David Smith, upon seeing an item from the former provide such inspiration for the internet’s most widely read sports outlet. It’s got to be a dream come true!
(above : the sharpest media manipulator money can buy…in the state of Idaho)
OK, that’s not actually what the Western Athletic Conference is advocating. I think. But ESPN’s Graham Watson reports the WAC has enlisted the services of Boise-based PR firm Scott Peyron & Associates to assist their efforts in promoting no. 7 Boise State as a legit national title contender.
The role of Scott Peyron & Associates is to keep Boise State in the forefront of the minds of the media. It does not lobby voters or coaches. It does email a weekly list of talking points regarding Boise State’s accomplishments to members of the national media. It also sets up interviews for WAC commissioner Karl Benson and prepares statistical information for him to use to make a case for the Broncos.
“We’ve found that people just want to go back to the Fiesta Bowl win in 2007 and talk about that being a fluke and haven’t really done their research in terms of [Boise State's] home game winning percentage or other interesting facts over the years,” said Doug Cole, a group practice leader with the firm.
“They’ll forget about the Hawaii records and all that. So, we just constantly remind people of the storied recent history of the WAC and Boise State and get them to consider that when they write their stories.”
“We made sure to let the national press know that (TCU’s win) against the 16th ranked BYU, which is now unranked, is not as strong as Boise State’s signature win against No. 16 (AP) Oregon, which is now ranked eighth,” Cole said. “Those are the types of things that dictate what our positioning is in terms of reminding media and getting stats in front of [the media] just so they can be honest and not ignore Boise State.”
Peyron and Associates other clients include the Idaho Technology Council, the Tamarack Ski Resort, Albertson’s Supermarkets and that annual moment where thousands of Americans wonder if their TV sets need replacing, the Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl.
Kelly abruptly ended the interview after callously cursing on air, taking umbrage with the go-betweens the club and the ticket-buying public.
Although Kelly apparently claimed he would not apologize for the classless act, word is that club president/CEO Lyle Bauer gave him no choice.
Here is the statement:
“To all Bomber fans and anyone who may have taken offence to my reaction and comments to interviewers during the post-game show following our game against the Alouettes, I extend my sincere apologies.
“I could not concur nor accept the assertions made by the interviewers that our players were ‘unfocused’ and looking towards our next contest. As the coach of these men, I know the professionalism and dedication which they commit in their preparation for each and every game. This group leaves it all on the field week in and week out, regardless of the outcome.
Cable is accused of violent and abusive behavior towards a former wife and girlfriend, with incidents detailed in the above clip. That the Raiders failed in their due diligence in elevating Cable upon Lane Kiffin’s firing is no shocker ; in the overall scheme of things, this might not even be the 10th worst personnel decision they’ve made in the past half decade. But it does call into question just what sort of investigation NFL security conducted after Hanson left training camp requiring medical attention. Roger Goodell implemented a draconian personal conduct policy with the cooperation of a toothless-at-the-time players union, and we’ve already seen instances where member of the uniformed workforce have been denied their right to work in the NFL monopoly long before they’ve been convicted of a felony.
Is Commissioner Goodell prepared to tell that same workforce that Cable’s alleged habit of solving problems with his fists makes him a lesser risk to public safety than Plaxico Fantastico? I don’t know what the odds are on Donte Stallworth running over another pedestrian, but the recidivist rate for spousal abusers might just a tad higher. I guess this is just my long-winded way of saying Tom Cable’s at least as big a menace to society as Larry Johnson.
(Glazer patriarch Malcom, contemplating whether being mistaken for Charley Steiner is a compliment or not)
The Tampa Tribune’s Roy Cummings reports a local radio host has been suspended by Clear Channel after claiming Thursday morning the Glazer family — owners of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Manchester United — had lost nearly a half billion in Bernie Madoff’s ponzi scheme, and might soon be forced to sell the NFL franchise.
Dan Sileo, who hosts the early morning show on WDAE, quoted a “friend” who works with the Securities and Exchange Commission as saying the Glazers lost $440 million in the Ponzi scheme.
Mike Killebrew, program director for WDAE, said that WDAE and Clear Channel Tampa will not be issuing any comment about Sileo’s remarks until they “get a handle on the situation.”
Killebrew said station officials have asked Sileo not to make any comments about the situation, as well.
Sileo said the Glazers’ involvement has led them to consider bankruptcy. Sileo also gave his opinion that the team could be for sale as a result of the owners’ financial distress.
“The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are not, nor have they ever been for sale,” Glazer’s statement said. “In addition, our family or any of our related companies have never invested one penny with Bernie Madoff.
Sileo’s report also said the Glazers allotted only $2 million for free agent signings each season the past five years. The Bucs are $23 million below the NFL’s imposed team salary cap of $127 million.
While there’s no truth to the rumor merely playing The Fall’s “Bingo-Master’s Breakout” in the Fed Ex parking lot would result in a beatdown, Cheap Seats Daily does report Redskins fans attending last night’s unsuccessful debut of Sherman Lewis as Washington’s offensive play-caller were under what our Prince Far I might call “heavy manners”.
Dan Snyder’s jack-booted thugs were out AGAIN? It’s harder to get into a Skins game than an El Al jet?
Dan Snyder’s attempt to kill the message was in full force. I didn’t go to the game, so everything’s anecdotal, but there’s so much.
Tales of scuffles with security over signs and t-shirts blasting the owner abound. The only first-person account I got was from a friend who called me from FedExField just after being searched at the gate like he was boarding an El Al flight.
He asked the frisker, “Are you looking for anti-Snyder paraphernalia?”
(above : Stonewall rioters, 1969. Not shown : Larry Johnson)
It’s been said on more than one occasion that if you’re a prominent public figure, Tweeting is kind of like holding a press conference, except you don’t have to answer questions (or put on pants). That much is very clear to Chiefs RB Larry Johnson, who chose Twitter as a venue to bury K.C. head coach Todd Haley hours after a 37-7 loss to the Chargers, a somewhat foolhardy move considering it came after the trade deadline. From the Star’s Kent Babb :
A message posted on Johnson’s profile, whose username Sunday about 7 p.m. stated: “My father played for the coach from ‘rememeber the titans’. Our coach played golf. My father played for redskins briefley. Our coach. Nuthn.”
Johnson continued the rant, and, in later responses directed toward Johnson’s Twitter followers, contained inflammatory remarks about gays. In a reference to someones profile picture, Johnson called it a “fag pic” and called the person a “Christopher street boy,” a reference to a predominantly gay section in New Yorks Greenwich Village. Johnson’s Twitter profile was taken private and some posts were deleted.
On Monday in the Chiefs locker room, Johnson used another gay slur after saying he wouldn’t speak to reporters.
Johnson, sitting next to second-year running back Jamaal Charles, told reporters that “I’m not talking till Thursday,” his usual day of speaking with reporters.
Then Johnson turned away and whispered.
“Get your faggot ass out of here,” he said.
Johnson’s agent, Peter Schaffer, said Johnson’s tweets were his own but said the running back intended to compliment his father — Larry Johnson Sr. is the defensive line coach at Penn State — and not disparage Haley.
….Sean Salisbury. Improbable? I thought so , too. I still do, actually. But the burden isn’t on the former ESPN analyst / Dallas radio host to prove he’s never been in the habit of harassing female colleagues with phone-cam snapshots of his schlong, ; it’ll be down to Gawker Media to prove that Salisbury’s self-portraits weren’t as crudely menacing as his treatment of John Clayton. From the McKinney Courier-Gazzette’s Danny Gallagher :
Sean Salisbury, a Frisco, TX resident and former National Football League quarterback, filed a petition for a civil defamation lawsuit in a Denton County court against Gawker Media for publishing several false stories on their sports blog Deadspin.com that cost him several jobs, ruined his reputation and made it difficult to find gainful employment.
Salisbury’s attorney, Jeffrey Tillotson of the Dallas law firm Lynn, Tillotson, Pinker & Cox, said in the petition that Deadspin has waged a “long-running smear campaign” against his client since January of 2007.
Harlow, a member of Salisbury’s counsel, said the suit singled out Gawker as a defendant because of their “concerted” efforts to single out their client, despite the reporting of others.
“What we hope to prove is that blog sites like Deadspin are accountable,” he said. “They can’t simply attack someone and make a concerted effort to destroy the lives and careers of people without any ramifications. The difference between other news outlets and Deadspin is at least the other news outlets try to get it right. We hope to make a statement that if sites are going to behave like this, there are consequences and they are long overdue for that.”
“Hey, another NFL game in London! Awful! The Tampa Bay fans lose a home game as a soccer-mad nation checks in on Chelsea and Man U.” So scowled the SF Chronicle’s Bruce Jenkins yesterday, neglecting to mention it was Liverpool who played Manchester United this weekend in the big battle for the UK’s sports fans’ hearts and minds. Despite a healthy turnout on a day tons of empty seats were visible in Oakland, the Times’ Nick Szczepanik seems to concur with Jenkins, opining, “Wembley Stadium was about the worst place in Britain in which to judge the success or otherwise of the project.”
The NFL wants to spread the word, increase the number of games played here and even, perhaps, establish a London franchise. For its third regular season game at Wembley, it had brought over the team of the decade in the Patriots, and arguably the leading star of the sport in Tom Brady, their quarterback. But inevitably, they were preaching to the converted — 84,000 of them.
What can the NFL do to spread its word beyond its existing constituency over here? Part of the plan was the largest tailgate party yet, held in the Wembley car park, with all 32 teams represented, so that neutrals — if there were any — could pick a team.
There was an NFL cinema, live bands, video game tents and free face transfers (sorry, decals) of the two teams’ logos. But it did not have the one essential for an authentic tailgate — excellent food.
At NFL games in the US, fans bring half a dead cow and a vast grill to cook it on, and if you are wandering past looking undernourished (in other words, of normal British girth) the chances are that you’ll be invited over to partake.
Here there were just the usual overpriced fish and chips and burger vans. “It’s just one big commercial gathering,” Dean Rothwell, a Patriots fan from Chesterfield, said.
The NFL may only know that they have reached the limits of Britain’s potential when it fails. Perhaps it should deliberately pick an unattractive match-up for next season and see if it can still sell out. If there is a full house to see the Carolina Panthers take on the Buffalo Bills, the NFL can take over the world, never mind Wembley.
I realize an East Coast experience is hardly representative of the entire USA, but hands up, every person who has wandered through the parking lot in Foxboro or East Rutherford and found themselves invited to break bread with strangers. I suspect the total number will be substantially fewer than those who’ve been in a fight or had to ask someone to stop urinating on their car.
The LA Times’ Houston Mitchell reports that ESPN college football analyst Bob Griese, working Saturday’s Minnesota/Ohio State game, has bojoined the network’s growing long list of dudes with-a-lot-explaining-to-do after
To promote Sunday’s NASCAR race, ESPN displayed a graphic with the top five drivers in the Chase for the Cup race. Color commentator Chris Spielman asked “Where’s Montoya?”
“Out eating a taco,” Griese responded.
Wow. What a dumb thing to say.
Griese later apologized. “Juan Pablo Montoya is one of the best drivers in NASCAR. I just want to apologize for the comment I made earlier in the ballgame.” I wonder which ESPN executive ordered him to do that.
Over the years, a number of mouthy pundits have taken it upon themselves to run a coach out of town. Leave it to former Redskins RB John Riggins, however, to turn his sights from the embattled Jim Zorn to the meddlesome Daniel Snyder. With effective props! (link courtesy DC Sports Bog’s Dan Steinberg)
In recent weeks, head coach Bobby Hauck (above) has publicly belittled Kaimin reporters at weekly news conferences, and followed through with an earlier threat of shutting the students out of interviews. Now, the football athletes are no longer speaking to the student reporters either – a silence the Kaimin believes Hauck ordered.
At a recent weekly news conference, a Kaimin reporter asked Hauck whether he was going to continue rotating quarterbacks.”You want something from me now?” replied Hauck. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
A Missoulian sportswriter immediately followed up with the same question, to which Hauck provided an answer.
At the following week’s news conference, the Kaimin reporter again asked a question – this one on how the Grizzly defense would defend against the speed of an opposing running back.
Hauck’s reply: “I’ll give you this, you’re persistent. Who’s next?”
After a recent practice, a student reporter asked a question of a player, who replied that he “wasn’t allowed to talk to the Kaimin,” the school newspaper reported.
Hauck refused to be interviewed for this story when contacted by the Missoulian.
Hauck and his assistant coaches earn more than a combined half million dollars a year. It’s kind of amazing to think one of the state’s more high profile educators considers his program so above reproach, there’s no obligation to engage in a dialogue with the same students whose tutions are (partially) paying his salary.
Veteran QB’s rarely come as magnanimous as Tennessee’s Kerry Collins. After a 59-0 loss to New England and having compiled a historic minus-7 yards passing for the afternoon, Collins refused to take personal responsibility for the staggering defeat when quizzed afterward, with quotes supplied by the Tennessean’s Jim Wyatt and David Climer :
“I still feel like I am the quarterback of this team and this is my team,” Colins said. “I give us a chance to win when I go out there.’’
“I know this: We are all responsible for this loss and for the past couple of losses,’’ Collins continued. “I know there are things we can all do better.’’
It is an indication of how bad a blowout this was that the Titans had to answer questions after the game about whether the Patriots ran up the score on them.
“I didn’t think they did,” defensive tackle Tony Brown said. “They just kept running their plays and it just so happens that they were working. It’s up to us as a defense to stop them and we just couldn’t get them stopped when we needed to.”
Jeff Fisher noted that the Patriots stuck with their offensive scheme.
“That was their plan going in. Why are they going to change their plan?” he said.
There is simply no greater social standing in sports than the great white quarterback, and Donovan McNabb can only nail two of the three criteria. So the question becomes:
What does Brett Favre think?
Favre’s voice could have a social impact like no other sports figure. He is football’s most iconic active player, and is also a country-boy born and raised in Mississippi – a state whose ugly racial history is well-documented. Would Favre use his voice to “reduce the hate” at a time where mass racial hatred is as publicly visible as any time since the 1960s? Or would he be more concerned that “racists buy Wranglers too”?
What does Tom Brady think?
As a member of the Republican Party, he is in a prime position to throw his greatest pass. By denouncing Limbaugh’s ownership bid, Brady can prove that Rush does not own him — unlike the congressman in his party. Brady can make an incredibly powerful statement that racism and Republicanism do not have to share the same bed, and that hatred and bigotry should never be reduced to a “political issue” alongside alternate viewpoints on deficit reduction or campaign finance reform.
What does Kurt Warner think?
Warner – who once led the St. Louis Cardinals to its only Super Bowl – is also a well-known devout Christian committed to spreading the principles. Does Rush Limbaugh reflect those principles? Warner’s words could send a much-needed message to fellow Christians that Limbaugh’s racism is an anti- Christian perversion of his religion.
An attempted theft of a helmet-misplacing Buffalo icon…or one anonymous hero’s brave effort to bring a tree-carved Thurman Thomas to safety across the Canadian border? The Buffalo News’ Gene Warner provides the details after the Bills’ horrific 6-3 loss to Cleveland on Sunday.
A Fort Erie, Ont.-area man called Therese Forton-Barnes, the Carvings for a Cause founder, early this afternoon to say he had the roughly 8 1/2-foot-tall tree carving of the former Buffalo Bills running back.
“They weren’t necessarily looking to steal it,” Forton-Barnes said. “They apparently thought we had forgotten to get it.”
The person armed with the tree carving, who talked briefly with The Buffalo News on the condition that he not be named, said that other tailgaters had poured some charcoal from their grill on his face after Sunday’s game.
“We decided we’d rescue it,” he said. “At the time, it seemed like a good idea.”
…we can instead consider the curious case of a self-styled provocateur who feigns surprise when he’s successfully provoked someone. Full credit to the Tuscaloosa TV news team, however, who had the presence of mind to judiciously use a William Zabka clip from “The Karate Kid”, thus breaking the Sports Putz’ stranglehold on such things.
“All I know is from the last comment I heard, he said in (President) Obama’s America, white kids are getting beat up on the bus while black kids are chanting ‘right on,’” Giants DE Mathias Kiwanuka (above) told The Daily News. “I mean, I don’t want anything to do with a team that he has any part of. He can do whatever he wants, it is a free country. But if it goes through, I can tell you where I am not going to play.”
“I am not going to draw a conclusion from a person off of one comment, but when it is time after time after time and there’s a consistent pattern of disrespect and just a complete misunderstanding of an entire culture that I am a part of, I can’t respect him as a man.”
Kiwanuka cringes at the idea of Limbaugh becoming an NFL owner. “They are flat-out racist,” Kiwanuka said of many of Limbaugh’s statements. “He jumps on Obama and he jumps on other people for being racist. But a lot of the comments that he said, I feel like they have no place in journalism. It is just an opinion show that should be only be taken for shock value. I liken it to ‘South Park’ when I am listening to him.”
“I love (Rams head coach) Steve Spagnulo and would play for him in a heartbeat, but under that situation … obviously trades you have no control over, but if it was a free-agent thing, I wouldn’t care if I only had one offer on the table, I would rather stay a free agent.”
“If John Elway can take the time to host and narrate a recognizing-your-local-terrorist video,” pleads David Roth, “hopefully you can make time to post it. And SAVE INNOCENT LIVES.” I wasn’t sure David hadn’t sent me some deleted scenes from “Team America : World Police”, but I’ve since been informed that was a puppet film. Otherwise, I wouldn’t know for certain.
Chin Up, Jim Dolan, Alex Spanos, Tom Hicks & Donald Sterling……you guys might no longer be serious contenders for the title of Most Despicable Owner In Professional Sports, if there’s any truth to the following report by NPR’s Frank James.
Talk Radio and conservative icon Rush Limbaugh has teamed up with Dave Checketts, owner of the national Hockey League’s St. Louis Blues, to try and purchase an ownership stake in the St. Louis Rams.
It’s difficult to determine from reports if they are trying to purchase the whole team or the 60 percent owned by the children of the late Georgia Frontiere, the long-time owner of the franchise who died last year.
Limbaugh couldn’t give details, citing a confidentiality agreement with the Goldman Sachs investment bank which was retained to shop the team around.
“A reason to hope for the deal to happen is so a Limbaugh-owned Rams could play the Donovan McNabb-led Philadelphia Eagles,” quips James, neglecting to note by the time this transaction is made official, McNabb’s more likely to be sitting alongside Chris Berman and Tom Jackson (and far more qualified for such a role than Limbaugh) than starting for the Eagles.
“His field vision is terrible, his attitude questionable, his grasping of NFL defenses atrocious. He throws into double coverage all the time, rarely looks off receivers and holds onto the ball waaaay too long.” But other than that, JaMarcus Russell isn’t all bad, right? Surely he’s kind to small animals and children? “Boys Will Be Boys” author Jeff Pearlman runs through a laundry list of failures (Heath Schuler! Browning Nagle! Mike Pagel) while declaring his devotion for the embattled Oakland QB. Or more accurately, “I love how absolutely, positively terrible he is.”
Despite it all, I don’t blame JaMarcus Russell himself. This is, without question, the fault of the Oakland Raiders, who wisely selected the gifted LSU Tiger with the No. 1 pick in the 2007 Draft, then surrounded him with the biggest mess since Starr Jones’ wedding party. Coaches come and go; offenses are predictable; drafts are wasted on semi-OK prospects praised for their speed (at the expense of, say, good hands). Had Russell been allowed to learn from, say, a Mike Tomlin or Marvin Lewis or Mike Shanahan, things might be drastically different. Maybe he’s on the bench, taking notes. Maybe he’s gradually groomed.
But now, in 2009, he simply looks like a bust. A very big bust.
Could longtime CSTB-whipping person Scott Weiland have been involved in some sort of violent dispute over the weekend? Not according to the chronic recidivist’s P.R. crew, who claim scrapes to the right side of the singer’s pretty face were inflicted when a bit of pigskin tossing prior to last month’s Nevada/Notre Dame game got a little out of hand. Thanks to reader Tom Enstice, who adds, “Can’t Stop The Bleeding has been my go-to source over the years for Weiland-Notre Dame news items. With all of the downsizing taking place in sports journalism I sincerely hope that CSTB will not sacrifice the ever-so-important Weiland beat.”
If Eric Mangini (above) is imposing heavy fines for improper use of the mini bar, how might he react to WR Braylon Edwards allegedly assaulting a Cleveland party promoter at 2am this morning? Edwards Givens of Eighty81 tells the Plain Dealer’s Starting Blocks blog exactly how Edwards chose to celebrate the Browns’ 23-20 O.T. defeat to the Bengals yesterday ;
“After the club closed, I was outside greeting and saying goodbye to people. Braylon comes up and started saying things, degrading me. He said if it wasn’t for LeBron (James) or the Four Horsemen, I wouldn’t have what I have, nor would I be able to get girls. Everyone knows Braylon has a problem with LeBron. So I had to speak up for myself. The conversation started to escalate. As some of his teammates started to pull him back, he punched me. I have a black eye and a cut. I’m not a violent guy.
“As long as I’ve known Braylon, I’ve allowed him and his friends to come into our events free of charge. Whatever jealousy he has with LeBron, he felt he needed to take it out on me.”
James, who addressed the incident after the Cavaliers’ practice, criticized the attack on his friend. He said that he has no relationship with Edwards but has felt that the football player is jealous of his success.
Jealous? Really? It’s not as though LeBron’s won more championships than Edwards. And can The Chosen One claim he’s ever taken part in a nationally televised panel discussion alongside Will Leitch and Buzz Bissinger? I think not.
I usually try not air dirty laundry from the CSTB Fantasy Football League, aka “Relax, It’s Just A Bruise” in public. But please consider the .GIF above a graphic reminder the WWL’s competitors in the FFL field might be worth a shot next autumn.
Don’t quote to me studies that say Tebow can play. Don’t waste your time, or mine. Every time an expert conducts a new study on concussions, it discovers that the old study and the previous experts were wrong — that the recovery time after a concussion is longer than anyone used to think. And right now, experts think it takes at least two weeks to recover well enough from a concussion to resume normal activity.
Do you think playing quarterback in two weeks against the enormous and fast LSU defense qualifies as “normal activity”?
Urban Meyer has the chance, the obligation, to be a good man. He needs to ignore Tebow when Tebow says he’s ready, because that’s what players say. They say they’re ready. And he needs to ignore the doctors when the doctors speculate Tebow is ready, because that’s all doctors can do on concussion recovery. They speculate. And you know what? The health of a human being is too important to be left to speculation and wishful thinking.
You don’t have to be Chris Harvard to know a brain-rattling career playing football might lead to significant quality-of-life issues further down the road. But when the NFL has steadfastly denied a correlation between their high-impact, contact sport and brain dysfunction, it’s an awfully big deal when a new study commissioned by the league reportedly shows former players are far more susceptible to Alzheimer’s than the rest of the population. All the more reason for John Kitna (above) to never retire, then.
From the New York Times’ Allan Schwartz, who’s been doggedly pursuing this story for the last few years.
“This is a game-changer — the whole debate, the ball’s now in the N.F.L.’s court,” said Dr. Julian Bailes, the chairman of the department of neurosurgery at the West Virginia University School of Medicine, and a former team physician for the Pittsburgh Steelers whose research found similar links four years ago. “They always say, ‘We’re going to do our own studies.’ And now they have.”
Sean Morey, an Arizona Cardinals player who has been vocal in supporting research in this area, said: “This is about more than us — it’s about the high school kid in 2011 who might not die on the field because he ignored the risks of concussions.”
All rates appear small. But if they are accurate, they would have arresting real-life effects when applied across a population as large as living N.F.L. retirees. A normal rate of cognitive disease among N.F.L. retirees age 50 and above (of whom there are about 4,000) would result in 48 of them having the condition; the rate in the Michigan study would lead to 244. Among retirees ages 30 through 49 (of whom there are about 3,000), the normal rate cited by the Michigan researchers would yield about 3 men experiencing problems; the rate reported among N.F.L. retirees leads to an estimate of 57.
So the Michigan findings suggest that although 50 N.F.L. retirees would be expected to have dementia or memory-related disease, the actual number could be more like 300. This would not prove causation in any individual case, but it would support a connection between pro football careers and heightened prevalence of later-life cognitive decline that the league has long disputed.
The Michigan researchers found that 6.1 percent of players age 50 and above reported that they had received a dementia-related diagnosis, five times higher than the cited national average, 1.2 percent. Players ages 30 through 49 showed a rate of 1.9 percent, or 19 times that of the national average, 0.1 percent.
I know some of you dig Fantasy Football, but last time I checked, there were no points awarded for starting the dangerously delusional. In the wake of Oakland’s 23-3 loss at home to Denver yesterday, the Tribune’s Jerry McDonald sneered, “if it is truly Rich Gannon’s mission in life to say negative things about the Raiders, they rewarded their former MVP with a smorgasboard of material for the show he does for Sirius Satellite Radio.” No material more damning than the miserable showing of former no. 1 draft JaMarcus Russell (above), whose postgame comments revealed (take your pick) either a stunning surplus of confidence or residence on Planet I-Don’t-Give-A-Fuck.
Believe it or not, Russell has actually had a worse passer rating than Sunday’s 22.6, bottoming out at 19.0 in last year’s 24-0 loss to Atlanta. He weathered the postgame scrutiny as he usually does, with a calm, easy manner, a half-smile that suggests he knows there are better days ahead.
And you wonder if Russell knows something you don’t know or simply has no grip on reality.
He threw two first-quarter interceptions that led to 10 points, and afterward neither play was his fault. On the first, Heyward-Bey’s feet were tangled with a defender while Russell was throwing out of the end zone, with Renaldo Hill getting the interception.
On the second, Russell said a defender turned Heyward-Bey back in, resulting in a gift to Andre Goodman.
“I try to play with no regrets and I think I did,” Russell said. “Other than that, we just didn’t show up on certain downs. We’ll continue on. The road is not over. There are a few more games to play, I think, and we’ll just continue to go out there.”
Russell wasn’t crestfallen, nor was he inspiring or particularly troubled by the boos.
“I know that the guys in my locker room are behind me,” Russell said. “When the fans get to that, it’s kind of where they seem like they’re fed up. But again, until you come out and play like I know we should and get back on track it will be a different story.”
A pair of consecutive losses to in-state rivals would be cause enough for concern at Texas Tech, but the media have become painfully aware of late there’s dissension amongst MIke Leach’s ranks. As such, the former offensive genius has banned his charges from entering the public-discourse minefield known as Twitter, as Lubbock Online’s Adam Zubavich explains :
“The policy is nothing football related outside of football,” Leach said Monday during his weekly news conference. “Any way you look at it, little Twitter things that relate to football is a violation of team rules. If somebody plays for us, they don’t have a Twitter account.”
Leach said players’ Facebook accounts will be monitored to make sure they don’t disclose sensitive team information.
All-American offensive lineman Brandon Carter and fellow senior Marlon Williams, the Red Raiders’ leading tackler this season from his linebacker position, both expressed disappointment with Tech’s 2-2 start. On Sunday afternoon, Williams also wrote, “Wondering why I’m still in this meeting room when the head coach can’t even be on time to his on (sic) meeting.”
When asked Monday on the Big 12 teleconference about Williams’ comments, Leach said: “Anybody that’s a malcontent doesn’t stay around here very long, because we’ve got a pretty good line of recruits that are fully willing to replace him. Insterestingly enough, he doesn’t have a Twitter page anymore.”
Leach called Twitter “stupid to begin with,” and said college football players get enough attention as it is.
“If they don’t get enough attention, I’ve got graduate assistants and student assistants that’ll sit there and listen to them embellish stories and talk and tell them how great they are all they want. They don’t need Twitter.”
(head coaches generally don’t wear helmets, but it might be time for Jim Zorn to break from tradition)
If the Lions chose to celebrate yesterday’s 19-14 defeat of the Redskins by returning to Ford Field to high-five long suffering Detroit fans, how might they mark, say reaching .500? Individual backrubs? Fellatio doesn’t seem out of the question if the Lions could pull off a a miraculous playoff berth this season, and I don’t wanna guess what might happen if Detroit made it all the way to their first Super Bowl — though an orgy scene / human sacrifice scene not unlike those depicted in Season Two of “True Blood” (with former GM Matt Millen in the role of Sam Merlotte) comes to mind. Where the Redskins are concerned, however, ESPN.com’s Matt Mosely writes of their embattled head coach, “it’s easy to second-guess Jim Zorn on his decision to go for it on fourth-and-goal from the Lions’ 1-yard line early in the game, mainly because it didn’t work”. Sadder still, Fred Smoot tells the Washington Post’s Tom Bosely, “We can right the ship. The Lions did it.” When they’re looking to the 1 win -in-their-last-19 games Lions for inspiration, it’s an appropriate time to question the Redskins’ psyche, as Boswell does unflinchingly.
They may have to fight through an incredible amount of self-delusion about the talent level on their team. This week, Clinton Portis said he thought the Redskins had the most talent in the NFL. Comments like that have been common in the Redskins’ locker room for the past 10 years — regardless of all available evidence. Not only is the view tolerated at Redskins Park, it is encouraged and marketed. Where does this fallacy arise? In the owner’s suite, where the price of players is equated with their performance?
Most perplexed of all at day’s end was Coach Jim Zorn, who didn’t seem to grasp, entirely, that his two dubious burn-the-book decisions in the first quarter had cost the Redskins at least seven points — more than the ultimate margin of defeat.
Zorn decided against a short field goal, then was stopped on fourth and one at the Lions goal line. Then, just minutes later, he accepted a penalty, allowing the Lions to replay third down — a classic tempt-fate tactic. Detroit, instead of being forced to try a 50-yard field goal, converted the third and 13 and eventually completed a 99-yard touchdown drive.
“I didn’t think we’d be denied” at the 1, Zorn said. “I thought, ‘No way they can drive 99 yards on us.’ I didn’t believe that would happen.”
In the first quarter, most coaches go by percentages, not prophecy.
“Rodney Harrison Spars With Kerry Rhodes on Twitter” read the headline on Gang Green Nation earlier this week, as former Patriots icon turned TV talking head Rodney Harrison (above) allegedly turned to the latest nu media craze to blast the Jets’ safety with such zingers as “you talk big for someone who has yet to even win in the playoffs you think you will ever accomplish what i accomplished?” Alas, after Rhodes replied with “u crossed line. and i never talk smack u started it. i kno u respect my game! Tweet it!”, we now learn via The Sporting Blog’s Michael Tunison that Rhodes has been provoked by, well, someoone who isn’t Rodney Harrison. Not sure if ESPN’s Adam Schefter is familiar with the handiwork of
Konrad Kujau, but everyone should be aware the Twitter account “adolf88″ is probably phony, too.
Considering how widely reported the spat was between Rhodes and Harrison, how was the real identity behind the feed first discovered by a self-admission from the imposter? When the Twitter battle was being mentioned during NFL pregame shows last week, how did no one at NBC bother to ask Harrison about his supposed involvement in the back-and-forth?
Adam Schefter, meanwhile, the one who took pains to stoke the Rhodes-Harrison Twitter fight, has been mostly critical of the imposter, but stopped short of acknowledging his own credulity in believing it was Harrison without checking to see if it actually was the former Patriot.
It’s not really fair to compare the end-stage Al Davis Oakland Raiders to Kim Jong-Il’s North Korea, right? I mean, both are just kind of belligerently and flubbily doing their own things without regard for the rest of the world’s opinion, both are favorites of people who dress up like they’re in Gwar (note: check to see if this is true about NK before posting), both answer dissent with blustering, ham-fisted conspiratorial un-reason, and both are kind of pariahs in their respective scenes, but… there’s a question of scale. I’m aware of that. I guess my perspective is just off after reading this report from the San Francisco Chronicle’s David White on the Raiders’ attempt to ban CBS commentator and former Raiders QB Rich Gannon (above) from (first) the broadcast booth and (then, after that didn’t work) pre-game production meetings for this Sunday’s game against the Broncos. The Raiders did this for… well, really petty and vindictive and hard-to-understand and generally crazy reasons, but also ones that classily and totally reasonably invoke 9/11:
Telling Gannon to stay away from team headquarters is a new wrinkle that may not be enforceable. League policy says teams must make the head coach and players available to the network television crew for production meetings.
“It is not permitted under league policy regarding cooperation with our network partners,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said when asked if the Raiders could ban Gannon from the production meetings…
“He’s attacked us on a regular basis since becoming a member of the media,” Raiders exec John Herrera said. “After affording him the opportunity to establish a career here, he has since gone on to attack us in a way that’s totally unacceptable.”
Herrera quoted Gannon as saying in several interviews they should just “blow up the building and start over” in Oakland. Team officials took that as literally as they did figuratively, and told Gannon as much before last season’s home game against the Chiefs.
“We think in a post 9/11 world, that’s not a very proper thing to say,” Herrera said. “It’s uncalled for. He seems to be a guy who can’t get over the fact that he played the worst Super Bowl game in the history of the game and he wants to blame everybody but himself. I guess it’s our fault he threw five interceptions.”
“Perhaps ESPNBoston.com’s newest business partnership will not prove to be a colossal conflict of interest in the long run,” opines the Boston Globe’s Chad Finn. “But upon first glance, that’s precisely what it appears to be.”
ESPNBoston.com, which became the second of ESPN’s planned network of city-specific sites to launch Sept. 14, is using Kraft Sports Group as its local advertising sales agent for the site. SportsBusiness Daily was the first to report news of the partnership on Thursday.
Kraft Sports Group is a holding company founded by Patriots owner Robert Kraft (above, far left) in 1998, four years after he purchased the NFL franchise. Along with the Patriots, Kraft owns the Revolution of Major League Soccer as well as Gillette Stadium, the venue for both teams’ home games.
Given that a significant amount of ESPNBoston.com’s coverage is dedicated to the Patriots, and a smaller amount to the Revolution, the partnership is beginning on dubious journalistic ground.
ESPN’s general strategy with its localized websites is to launch in cities where it already owns and operates an ESPN Radio station, then have the station’s staff coordinate ad sales for the website. Such was the case when ESPN Chicago launched in April.
While the ESPN mother ship has not been reluctant to criticize the franchise – it was relentless in its reporting and speculating during the “SpyGate’’ controversy of 2007 – the situation bears monitoring to see whether ESPNBoston.com’s curious new bedfellow has an effect on its reporting of potentially unflattering Patriots news.
Though it’s a bit early days to accuse ESPNBoston of lacking integrity, Finn would be remiss not to raise the points above. He’s equally remiss, however, in failing to disclose (even if it’s old fuckin’ news) the Globe’s parent company, The New York Times, holds a minority stake in the Boston Red Sox. Though I can’t think of an example of the Globe covering anything up to curry favor with John Henry, Larry Lucchino or Tom Werner, a number of shots have been taken by Globe writers at former players who’ve ended up on ownership’s shit list for one reason or another. Heck, the team almost lost a General Manager a few years ago over what seemed like a victorious power play on the part of Lucchino, successfully (for a while, anyway) engineered with the help of the CHB.
Kings Island Amusement Park’s Halloween Haunt features skeletal renditions of various celebrities, including Heath Ledger surrounded by pill bottles, Farrah Fawcett in her iconic red tank top, pitchman Billy Mays, and a pajama-clad Michael Jackson.
“You’re gonna see Ted Kennedy, Ed McMahon, and there’s still other ones yet to be placed,” Kings Island spokesman Don Helbig told Cincinatti NBC affiliate WLWT.
The fright-fest at the Ohio park also contained a depiction of slain NFL quarterback Steve McNair and his mistress Sahel Kazemi – an exhibit that has since been pulled from the display, Fanhouse.com reports.
The scene contained a skeleton representing McNair, wearing his NFL jersey, sat on a couch, with a lingerie-clad skeleton representing Kazemi sprawled across his lap. The display also featured a Titans helmet with the top blown off, Fanhouse.com reports, and a gun at the skeletons’ feet.
It really is shocking stuff. Isn’t Heath Ledger considered old news?
Robert Henson (above) is describted by the Washington Post’s Dan Steinberg as “a mostly unknown reserve linebacker for the Washington Redskins, a first-year player who had never played in an NFL game and was best known for being the son-in-law of television pastor T.D. Jakes.” Steinz might well have added, “a football equivalent to Johnny Burger King-hating Keith Foulke.”
A few hours after Washington’s unsightly 9-7 win against the St. Louis Rams, Henson had taken up an online battle against a segment of disgruntled Redskins fans, calling them disloyal “dim-wits” who “work 9 to 5 at McDonalds.”
Almost immediately, Henson became one of the anti-heroes of a game he had watched from the sideline, doused with criticism and insults on sports-talk radio shows and Internet message boards. And by Monday afternoon, Henson sheepishly exited the team’s Ashburn training facility, accompanied by several team spokesmen, to apologize for a Twitter-enabled diatribe against fans that provided him his first moment of NFL fame.
“All you fake half hearted Skins fan can . . . I won’t go there, but I dislike you very strongly, don’t come to Fed Ex to boo dim wits!!” he wrote shortly after the game ended, a message that would have been seen by his 1,200 or so Twitter followers. As fans quickly responded with disgust — including an editor from the sports Web site SB Nation and a radio host from 106.7 The Fan — Henson kept typing.
“No I didn’t play but I still made more than you in a year and you’d [gladly] switch spots with me in a second,” Henson wrote during a string of responses. “I was talking to the fans [who] said the crazy stuff, I’m use [to heckling] but I’ve never been booed in my own stadium. Again that was for the half hearted but if everyone wants to jump in come on. The question is who are you to say you know what’s best for the team and you work 9 to 5 at Mcdonalds [sic]. You don’t wanna follow me anymore then fine but we play for you and win lose or draw we represent you!! My guy on the Rams said they never got booed even when they didn’t win a game.”
I think even the most dimwitted Mickey D’s employee can tell an alleged offensive genius like Jim Zorn might be hitting the bricks soon, particularly with the likes of Mike Shanahan and Bill Cowher mulling their respective next moves.
What is disturbing is that, with the exception of the final five minutes of the game against the Bills, the offense that was supposed to overwhelm all others has been underwhelming. As Brady tries to work his way back into a comfortable state of mind he has had predictable struggles. He had them against the Bills for all but the final five minutes and he had them all day Sunday, primarily because he was under constant pressure.
Although Brady was never sacked, he was hurried seven times and pressured many more. His offense missed Wes Welker, who has been nursing a sore knee, and Randy Moss, who disappeared in a cocoon of coverage spun by Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis.
After the game, Moss claimed he was double-covered all day. Revis said he was in man coverage all day. No wonder Moss couldn’t get open. He was seeing double.
Were this just an offensive problem one would be less concerned but for two straight weeks the defense has played worse in the second half than the first.
This was a problem against the Bills and an insurmountable one against the Jets, who rang up 197 yards and 13 points in the second half to 57 yards and a field goal in the first. Worse, the first two quarterbacks they’ve faced, Trent Edwards and rookie Mark Sanchez, finished with passer ratings of 114.1 and 101.1. It is unlikely the last game either plays this season will be the Pro Bowl.
When REM made their network TV debut in 1983, David Letterman asked “who else is from Athens?” to which Mike Mills helpfully replied, “Herschel Walker”. Who’d have guessed that more than a quarter century later, the Bulldog standout (and centerpiece of one of the most lopsided trades in professional sports history) would be planning his mixed martial arts debut? MMA Fanhouse’s Ariel Helman reports Walker has signed an agreement with Strikeforce and will begin training with an eye towards making a 2010 competitive debut.
“This isn’t a publicity stunt or a gimmick,” Strikeforce director of communications Mike Afromowitz said. “Herschel Walker has tremendous athleticism, and he has always shown that off the gridiron. He’s accomplished a lot in his life and in the world of sports. His accomplishments speak for themselves, and we hope that his athleticism can transition into a successful MMA career.”
Although Walker is known for his football career, he does have a sixth-degree black belt in taekwondo and competed in the 1992 Winter Olympics in the two-man bobsled, finishing seventh.
In November 2007, Walker announced on HDNet’s Inside MMA that he would appear on a MMA reality show with Jose Canseco and other former professional athletes, however, the show never made it past the pre-production stages.
“I’ve been training for several years. I would play college football games on Saturday and then compete in martial arts tournaments on Sunday after church I’m now looking forward to opening up another chapter in my life and to competing in MMA,” Walker said via press release.
I’ve little doubt Walker is a more credible multi-sport athlete than say, Mark Gastineau or Ed “Too Tall” Jones. But unless Strikeforce plans to introduce a senior circuit (or, more likely, Walker is matched with questionable opponents) this sounds like a maiming-in-the-making.
Yahoo Sports’ Michael Silver has done comprehensive work in chroncling the extent to which Browns head coach Eric Mangini — he of the 23-27 career record — has alientated Cleveland veterans and rookies alike with a maniacal approach that borders on the Belichickian. Except, of course, the Hooded Casanova has a slightly more glittering resume. On Saturday, Silver shares another report of Mangini continuing to hone his people skills
One player was fined $1,701 (the maximum allowed under the CBA) because he failed to pay for a $3 bottle of water he’d consumed at a hotel while the team was on the road. Gee, if the Browns keep losing and some guys on the team stop playing hard for this guy, I wonder why that’ll be?
On top of that, you have to wonder about Cleveland as a destination for future free agents. About the nicest thing I can say about Mangini is that during his Jets tenure, he at least had the dignity to refrain from calling season ticket holders during dinner. Seriously, given the price of Gang Green season tickets, what percentage of those holding ducats for tomorrow’s game against New England do you think had forgotten about it or were contemplating other plans?
So what did newly ensconced Tennessee head coach Lane Kiffin (shown above, all freaky and geeky) think was going to come of his repeated baiting of Florida’s Urban Meyer? In the words of Belly Of The Beast, Monte’s kin spent the offseason “poking a sleeping Kodiak bear who, in addition to razor sharp claws and teeth, is also armed with Tomahawk missiles, an arsenal of F5 tornados and a fire-breathing, giant dragon. And that’s just on offense.” On a weekend when Kiffin would do well to concentrate on making sure QB Jonathan Crompton isn’t beaten to death by his own teammates, he’s forced to turn down the rhetoric prior to Saturday’s clash with no. 1 ranked Florida, an event that causes the Tennessean’s David Climer to remind us, “Meyer harbored no ill will against Kiffin’s predecessor, Phillip Fulmer. And he beat UT by a combined 63 points in the last two years with Fulmer on the opposing sideline. Meyer is an equal opportunity destroyer.”
Some of Kiffin’s more pointed comments were printed out and posted around the Florida football training facilities last spring. The Gators managed to maintain focus on opening opponents Charleston Southern and Troy long enough to win by a combined 118-9. Now they have switched their full attention to UT.
It probably is not in UT’s best interest that Florida superstar quarterback Tim Tebow enters the game harboring a grudge. He is still unhappy about Kiffin’s suggestion that Meyer cheated in the recruitment of prospect Nu’Keese Richardson last winter.
If this were a spelling bee, Florida would try to run it up. In the SEC, you take no prisoners.
Although he is conceding nothing, Kiffin has spent the last few days telling everybody how great Florida is. He makes it sound like UT is going into a sword fight with a butter knife.
“I would think they’re maybe the most talented defense to ever play and maybe the best quarterback to ever play college football,” he said.
