Sometimes I want to slap football players.
Anquan Boldin says he has no relationship with his coach. "I'm a football player. That's about it."
Uh... yeah, so suck it up and play football. Stop whining.
And then, Chris Henry on maybe never playing in the NFL again: "To have that taken away from you, that can be really hard. That would have been a tough thing to go through. I kind of went through that. I was scared at one point that I wouldn't have the opportunity to be back on the field."
Gee, maybe you should have thought of that before you went out and GOT ARRESTED FIVE TIMES.
It hasn't escaped notice that these are both wide receivers, the most insecure position in football.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Olympics
OK, I was trying to do something else and tried to login to Google and wondered why I had a gmail account. Then I saw this link. OH, yeah.
I love the Olympics.
I love the scandals (underage gymnasts! overdoped cyclists!)
I love the sports you never see during the year--at least, you don't see them now that ESPN has baseball and Wide World of Sports is off the air.
I have had only one "Olympic Moment" so far, and that was the predictable "US Swim Team Relay comes from behind to win!" I am a little annoyed that experienced sports guys are talking about it like they are idiots. Chris Collinsworth was on last night comparing the other guys to the Packers and Phelps to Favre, saying the other guys were (in essence) jealous and annoyed with Phelps because they said they hadn't been thinking of his 8 medals, they had been focused on winning their one medal. I guess my advantage is that I have never done anything ever so I KNOW that I don't know what they are feeling, so I listen to what they tell me and base my opinions on that, not how I might have felt when Kenny Anderson was a bigger star than I.
I do get a bit tired of hearing about Phelps, but I guess they figure you need someone to root for or you won't tune in tomorrow. But the thing is that every person who is at those games is living a dream, fulfilling a long and grueling quest (sometimes it was just the quest for citizenship, like in the case of the Georgian Women's Beach Volleyball team, but it was effort nonetheless). Each person is enough of a story--and once they get past the stridency of Misty May and Phelps and all, to their credit, they do often communicate those stories.
oops... running out of time...
I love the Olympics.
I love the scandals (underage gymnasts! overdoped cyclists!)
I love the sports you never see during the year--at least, you don't see them now that ESPN has baseball and Wide World of Sports is off the air.
I have had only one "Olympic Moment" so far, and that was the predictable "US Swim Team Relay comes from behind to win!" I am a little annoyed that experienced sports guys are talking about it like they are idiots. Chris Collinsworth was on last night comparing the other guys to the Packers and Phelps to Favre, saying the other guys were (in essence) jealous and annoyed with Phelps because they said they hadn't been thinking of his 8 medals, they had been focused on winning their one medal. I guess my advantage is that I have never done anything ever so I KNOW that I don't know what they are feeling, so I listen to what they tell me and base my opinions on that, not how I might have felt when Kenny Anderson was a bigger star than I.
I do get a bit tired of hearing about Phelps, but I guess they figure you need someone to root for or you won't tune in tomorrow. But the thing is that every person who is at those games is living a dream, fulfilling a long and grueling quest (sometimes it was just the quest for citizenship, like in the case of the Georgian Women's Beach Volleyball team, but it was effort nonetheless). Each person is enough of a story--and once they get past the stridency of Misty May and Phelps and all, to their credit, they do often communicate those stories.
oops... running out of time...
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Racing into the Past
I've been watching Formula One racing on a regular basis for the first time since college. Back in those days Michael Schumacher was driving for Benetton and I cheered for him because 1) he was German, an 2) he had a pretty cool looking car. The racing this season has been far more engaging than I remember from back in those days, with three or four teams consistently contending for the podium finishes each week. This
week's German Grand Prix though leaves me feeling a bit nostalgic. The Hockenheim track used to be among my favorites. It was over 4 miles long with most of the track sprinting through the woods on long straightaways. It was perhaps the closest thing F1 had to flat-out oval racing, with a few chicanes thrown in to keep the speeds from getting too outrageous. In the late 90s though, the F1 powers that be threatened to leave Hockenheim unless the track was shortened. As a result, the portion of the track that gave Hockenheim its character--the high speed straights through the forests--were snipped out all together, leaving it a boring, unimaginative shell of it's former self.
Through the magic of TV, today was the first time I had a chance to see the track in its current state and I find myself torn emotionally. Part of me wishes that they'd kept the wooded portion of the old layout intact, even if F1 refused to race the full layout.
They got the shorter track they wanted in a re-design. The 'full' track could have been used for sports car races and motorcycles, much in the same way that the 20+km Nürburgring Nordschlief is still used for 24 hour races and public access but is ignored by modern F1 (with rare exception) in favor of a shorter, less interesting track. Instead, they plowed under most of the racecourse at Hockenheim. That's where the other part of me is happy. Had they sold off the now unused land in order to make room for more commercial development it would have been a tragedy, but at least for now that's not the plan. Instead, the Germans are allowing nature to reclaim the former straightaways. It's a sad, but beautiful thing. These days we so often see forests turn to sub divisions and rolling plains turn into strip malls. It's so rare that we see transformation go the other way.
week's German Grand Prix though leaves me feeling a bit nostalgic. The Hockenheim track used to be among my favorites. It was over 4 miles long with most of the track sprinting through the woods on long straightaways. It was perhaps the closest thing F1 had to flat-out oval racing, with a few chicanes thrown in to keep the speeds from getting too outrageous. In the late 90s though, the F1 powers that be threatened to leave Hockenheim unless the track was shortened. As a result, the portion of the track that gave Hockenheim its character--the high speed straights through the forests--were snipped out all together, leaving it a boring, unimaginative shell of it's former self.
Through the magic of TV, today was the first time I had a chance to see the track in its current state and I find myself torn emotionally. Part of me wishes that they'd kept the wooded portion of the old layout intact, even if F1 refused to race the full layout.
They got the shorter track they wanted in a re-design. The 'full' track could have been used for sports car races and motorcycles, much in the same way that the 20+km Nürburgring Nordschlief is still used for 24 hour races and public access but is ignored by modern F1 (with rare exception) in favor of a shorter, less interesting track. Instead, they plowed under most of the racecourse at Hockenheim. That's where the other part of me is happy. Had they sold off the now unused land in order to make room for more commercial development it would have been a tragedy, but at least for now that's not the plan. Instead, the Germans are allowing nature to reclaim the former straightaways. It's a sad, but beautiful thing. These days we so often see forests turn to sub divisions and rolling plains turn into strip malls. It's so rare that we see transformation go the other way.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Wow.
HE CAUGHT IT WITH HIS HEAD!
That was all I could keep chanting after David Tyree made a ... a... 'circus catch' just doesn't do it justice. No words that I can think of really do it justice. All I can say is that it will almost certainly unseat Dwight Clark's as the most clutch catch in NFL Playoff history. It was one of those catches that would be up for an ESPY even if it occurred in the third quarter of a regular season blow-out.
It was destined to happen though. You could just feel it. It was the same feeling earlier this season when the Patriots eeked by the Ravens. It was that game, you'll recall, where the Ravens held a late game lead and had seemingly stopped the Patriots on 4th down to secure a victory, only to have they play nullified by a time out that their coaches had called just before the ball was snapped. Another 4th down stop was negated by a false start (one of the very few times a false start was beneficial to the offense), and a foolish Defensive Holding penalty kept New England's drive alive. It all added up to what Tony Kornheiser called a 'tragic inevitability'. New England was destined to win that game, and they did.
The same thing unfolded tonight. After Randy Moss put the Patriots up with just over 2 and a half minutes to play, the Giants seemed to get those little breaks... the fourth down conversion... Asante Samuel's feet coming down out of bounds with what would have been a game sealing interception... And then, that... play. I'm sure someone will have a patented nickname for it by tomorrow... 'The Play' is a LITTLE too grandiose, as is 'The Miracle', but whatever they call it... 'it' happened. Even though the Giants were still 25 yards out, it was inevitable that they would win. It was just a matter of how.
That was all I could keep chanting after David Tyree made a ... a... 'circus catch' just doesn't do it justice. No words that I can think of really do it justice. All I can say is that it will almost certainly unseat Dwight Clark's as the most clutch catch in NFL Playoff history. It was one of those catches that would be up for an ESPY even if it occurred in the third quarter of a regular season blow-out.
It was destined to happen though. You could just feel it. It was the same feeling earlier this season when the Patriots eeked by the Ravens. It was that game, you'll recall, where the Ravens held a late game lead and had seemingly stopped the Patriots on 4th down to secure a victory, only to have they play nullified by a time out that their coaches had called just before the ball was snapped. Another 4th down stop was negated by a false start (one of the very few times a false start was beneficial to the offense), and a foolish Defensive Holding penalty kept New England's drive alive. It all added up to what Tony Kornheiser called a 'tragic inevitability'. New England was destined to win that game, and they did.
The same thing unfolded tonight. After Randy Moss put the Patriots up with just over 2 and a half minutes to play, the Giants seemed to get those little breaks... the fourth down conversion... Asante Samuel's feet coming down out of bounds with what would have been a game sealing interception... And then, that... play. I'm sure someone will have a patented nickname for it by tomorrow... 'The Play' is a LITTLE too grandiose, as is 'The Miracle', but whatever they call it... 'it' happened. Even though the Giants were still 25 yards out, it was inevitable that they would win. It was just a matter of how.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Take This Lei and...
Wow. Go to http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/index today and look at the map associated with the poll about whether you'd vote Roger Clemens into the Hall of Fame. Maybe it's early in the day, but there are five states that vote "no": New Hampshire, West Virginia, Utah, Nebraska, and Hawaii (Wyoming is split 50-50). What an odd assortment of states. Hawaii voted 100% no (as of the time of this posting). What did Roger ever do to the Hawaiians?
Monday, November 26, 2007
Fly, Eagles, Fly
After playing the Patriots closer than any other team this year (I think the Colts lost by four), there's a quarterback controversy in Philly! No, not really. Here's the thing, though. The Eagles seem to have a tendency to light up and do well when McNabb is on the bench. Would anyone say that A.J. Feeley is a better QB? Or Jeff Garcia even? Taken by themselves, no. On this Eagles team, well, um... I'm gonna have to go with 'maybe.'
What it feels like to me is that McNabb is so talented that when he's in the game, two things happen. First of all, he feels like he has to carry the team, like he has to be the guy who delivers the win. Second of all, the coaches feel like they have this major talent out on the field, and they have to let him play his game. When you've got A.J. or Garcia out there, the coaches run a good mix of plays, the defense usually steps up, everybody chips in. It actually looks, at times like that, as though the Eagles have a good team and a good coaching staff.
So the QB controversy that should be brewing in Philly is not whether to start Donovan or not. The controversy should be whether to give Donovan the same mix of plays you give Feeley and Garcia, or that you'd give any QB if you didn't think they had Awesome Talent. Because I think McNabb could've played that game last night as wel as Feeley did, plus maybe he doesn't throw that last interception into the end zone (which I think was when Feeley tried to Make Something Happen as opposed to just taking what the defense gave him, or maybe it was the coaches hoping to take New England by surprise, in which case they are idiots because everyone knows you cannot surprise Bill Belichick, who has a Gray's Sports Almanac from the year 2015 locked in a safe in his office in Gillette Field, and he's just waiting for the day when a kid or a crazy old man comes to ask him about it...).
All that aside: great game, Eagles. If there is such a thing as a moral victory in football, going into the 2007 Patriots' house and having a chance to win with a minute left in the game certainly counts.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
BSPN
"Welcome to SportsCenter. I'm Rich Eisen with Steve Levy. Tonight we'll take a look at the Boston Celtics. Just how good can they be? Could they be the best team in basketball? Maybe the best team of the last twenty years?"
"And we'll look back on the World Champion Boston Red Sox and what each of the players on that team is up to. Could they win five more championships before all is said and done? Or is it more likely eight?"
"But we start with a look at the New England Patriots. Here, just look at some photos. My God, they're manly. Oh, sorry, Steve, I'm drooling on the desk."
"That's okay, Rich. I was lost in admiring Tom Brady's throwing motion and didn't notice."
"It is gorgeous, isn't it?"
"And just look at Randy Moss jump."
*silence*
"Wow."
"I don't think there is any question, this could be the greatest team in the history of organized athletics."
"Steve, I wouldn't be surprised to see them challenge UCLA's record 88 consecutive wins."
"I agree, Rich."
"In other news, there are some teams outside the Boston area playing, as we can see from the shot of the scoreboard behind Kevin Garnett's head. We'll freeze the frame for a second so you can look at the scores, then we'll have ten more minutes of Celtics coverage followed by Lee Corso asking whether Boston College can get back in the BCS race."
*commercial for some mobile phone featuring Peyton Manning*
"And we'll look back on the World Champion Boston Red Sox and what each of the players on that team is up to. Could they win five more championships before all is said and done? Or is it more likely eight?"
"But we start with a look at the New England Patriots. Here, just look at some photos. My God, they're manly. Oh, sorry, Steve, I'm drooling on the desk."
"That's okay, Rich. I was lost in admiring Tom Brady's throwing motion and didn't notice."
"It is gorgeous, isn't it?"
"And just look at Randy Moss jump."
*silence*
"Wow."
"I don't think there is any question, this could be the greatest team in the history of organized athletics."
"Steve, I wouldn't be surprised to see them challenge UCLA's record 88 consecutive wins."
"I agree, Rich."
"In other news, there are some teams outside the Boston area playing, as we can see from the shot of the scoreboard behind Kevin Garnett's head. We'll freeze the frame for a second so you can look at the scores, then we'll have ten more minutes of Celtics coverage followed by Lee Corso asking whether Boston College can get back in the BCS race."
*commercial for some mobile phone featuring Peyton Manning*
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