I do not understand the Phoenix Suns
Shaq to the Suns for Shawn Marion? Did that just really happen? Even the most lay fan out there can not understand where this one came from. The Phoenix Suns who do not play defense, who run and gun more than the 70’s Knicks, just traded for Shaq?
Shaq is 35 years old. He is way past his prime. He is slow and overweight. And he is going to a place where speed and athleticism are as important as food and water. In my opinion the Suns were trying to “Ron Artest” Shawn Marion. As a former coach in very low leagues of the game there are two things that many people don’t understand about basketball players. The first is they don’t need coaching, and the second is they all think they should be playing the whole game. The problem and the beauty of basketball is that you only have 5 people who play. So if you are a high school coach a high school where there are 1500 boys and you can only start 5 and play 8 you can see where the problem lies. The beauty of basketball is that if you only have 8 guys, you can play a game. So that is why it is such a good game for children and adults to play in the driveway, at church, at the gym ect.
I obviously don’t know much about Shawn Marion. But I feel as if the Suns have been trying to get equal or lesser value for him for a while. His jump shot is worse than Stephen Jackson’s’ attitude at a parole hearing. That tells me that the guy doesn’t like to be coached. If you look at the guys who are famous for shooting and work ethic, their jump shots are usually as close to perfect as you can get. Allan Iverson is that guy, Mike Dunleavy Jr., Danny Granger, and Dirk all have perfect jump shots and are very coach able players. You can make a case for Reggie Miller, but when Reggie Miller would clinics and teaches other how to shoot his jump shot was perfect. Also if you look at the mechanics of a jump shot Reggie’s jump shot from the release point through the follow through was very close to perfect.
Anyway with athletic small forwards abound I am starting to see what the Suns were trying to accomplish. They needed someone to slow down Tim Duncan. This could help. I see Shaq as a bench player. If Shawn Marion was a pre Madonna I guess its addition through subtraction. If Shaq has the rest of this year and maybe next year the Suns also relieve themselves of cap space. As for Heat they tanked their season for a high draft pick. Now they have another player to build around.
That is the only thing I can come up with. I guess maybe you can add another team to the Shaq mystique. This guy is one of the greatest players of this era. He also has the rings to prove it. Why can’t he stay in one place? It makes you really appreciate guys like Reggie Miller who stuck with their team through thick and thin, and didn’t go chasing rings.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Monday, February 4, 2008
New York Has Class
First of all I am not taking any ritalin during this post so excuse me for the Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
I would like to say thank you to Eli Manning for have excellent DNA. There has never ever been a family that has been more critizied in professional sports for what they did on the field. At this point 99.9% of it was undeserved. There is alot of ground to cover around this Super Experiance.
The first would have to be the city of New York. Thank you for not rioting. There is no lower forms of life than those who riot after there teams win championship. I hate Boston and they have won more championships than any other city in the world. In fact if the Celtics were from any other city, I would be happy for Garnett, Allen, and Paul Pierce. Its a game, there is no reason to tear up people's personal property because of a game. Boston and LA are the two most dispicable cities in the universe. They also win the most championships.
Eli vs. Peyton
Alot of people are wondering if Peyton was jelous becuase it took Eli less time to get his ring? I have also heard that Eli did it with less talent. These are true arguments, but I think there is alot more to consider. The biggest of all is the different markets they play in. New York has its disadvantages, but what I call the big 3 (New York, LA, and Chicago) have definite advantages. This is less prevelent in the NFL, but still. To win a championhip in the NFL the Stars have to allign. You do not nessesarrily have to be the best team, just the best team at the end of the season. This is true of the last 3 Super Bowl Champions. The Steelers, Colts, and Giants were all lower playoff seeds. Anyway I think the Colts have a lot bigger upside. The Giants are an old team. Strahan does not even show up to training camp, Plaxico is old, and i still wonder if signing Justin Tuck to a long term deal was a great idea. The Colts are good becuase they invest in solid players long term. The Colts have no dead money. Every big deal is for guys like Bob Sanders, Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, Marvin Harrison, ect.
Eli plays in the NFC. The AFC is still the superior confrence. They got hot when it counted. And were a team of destiny. This game reminds me of the 1980 USA hockey team. If they played the Patriots 10 times, the Pats would have won 9. But they won the one that counted. And America loved every minute of it. I dont know if its perspective but I think the Giants are far from the dominince of the Colts and the Pats, even the Chargers. The Chargers have a better team, but their stars havent alligned yet. They will. San Diego deserves it. Even though LT's age is starting to concern me.
The stars have to align for any team to win the Super Bowl, but there are alot less stars for major market teams. The NBA is famous for this. THat is why their product is crap. The NFL wants the two best teams becuase everyone watches the Super Bowl. The NBA wants the Knicks vs. the Lakers becuase only New York and LA will watch it.
Looking back on it, the Patriots morgaged their future for 18-1*. (Enjoy the astrick). They are going to have alot of holes to plug. They have to do something about the aging and HGH filled linebacking core. Randy Moss is as good as gone. He might have one more year, but after that hes gone for cash. Assante Samual is gone even though Randel Gay is capable.
Thanks for following the ritalin-less post.
I would like to say thank you to Eli Manning for have excellent DNA. There has never ever been a family that has been more critizied in professional sports for what they did on the field. At this point 99.9% of it was undeserved. There is alot of ground to cover around this Super Experiance.
The first would have to be the city of New York. Thank you for not rioting. There is no lower forms of life than those who riot after there teams win championship. I hate Boston and they have won more championships than any other city in the world. In fact if the Celtics were from any other city, I would be happy for Garnett, Allen, and Paul Pierce. Its a game, there is no reason to tear up people's personal property because of a game. Boston and LA are the two most dispicable cities in the universe. They also win the most championships.
Eli vs. Peyton
Alot of people are wondering if Peyton was jelous becuase it took Eli less time to get his ring? I have also heard that Eli did it with less talent. These are true arguments, but I think there is alot more to consider. The biggest of all is the different markets they play in. New York has its disadvantages, but what I call the big 3 (New York, LA, and Chicago) have definite advantages. This is less prevelent in the NFL, but still. To win a championhip in the NFL the Stars have to allign. You do not nessesarrily have to be the best team, just the best team at the end of the season. This is true of the last 3 Super Bowl Champions. The Steelers, Colts, and Giants were all lower playoff seeds. Anyway I think the Colts have a lot bigger upside. The Giants are an old team. Strahan does not even show up to training camp, Plaxico is old, and i still wonder if signing Justin Tuck to a long term deal was a great idea. The Colts are good becuase they invest in solid players long term. The Colts have no dead money. Every big deal is for guys like Bob Sanders, Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, Marvin Harrison, ect.
Eli plays in the NFC. The AFC is still the superior confrence. They got hot when it counted. And were a team of destiny. This game reminds me of the 1980 USA hockey team. If they played the Patriots 10 times, the Pats would have won 9. But they won the one that counted. And America loved every minute of it. I dont know if its perspective but I think the Giants are far from the dominince of the Colts and the Pats, even the Chargers. The Chargers have a better team, but their stars havent alligned yet. They will. San Diego deserves it. Even though LT's age is starting to concern me.
The stars have to align for any team to win the Super Bowl, but there are alot less stars for major market teams. The NBA is famous for this. THat is why their product is crap. The NFL wants the two best teams becuase everyone watches the Super Bowl. The NBA wants the Knicks vs. the Lakers becuase only New York and LA will watch it.
Looking back on it, the Patriots morgaged their future for 18-1*. (Enjoy the astrick). They are going to have alot of holes to plug. They have to do something about the aging and HGH filled linebacking core. Randy Moss is as good as gone. He might have one more year, but after that hes gone for cash. Assante Samual is gone even though Randel Gay is capable.
Thanks for following the ritalin-less post.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
What a weekend
365 Days ago today I was about to poop my pants with excitement over Indianapolis' first major Professional championship ever. The Indianapolis Colts would knock off I 65 rival the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI.
Since that day in history I have learned 1 thing. There is always next year. So if your team happens to lose remember that next year always rolls around and whatever happened the past year does not matter.
That being said I am not going to tell you who is going to win Super Bowl XLII. Truth is only god knows and truth is he probably has more things to do than worry about football. Arlen Spector (Democrat) from PA on the other hand cares more about football (Eagles) than helping his constituants.
Spy Gate Part Duex
First of all, is anyone suprised? I was so tired of the San Fransico 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys winning during my childhood I could have thrown up. But even with Leon Lett and Michael Irvan those teams had twice the charcter of your current dynasty the New England Patriots. This is just the tip of the iceberg with this team. I have a heck of alot more respect for a team that looses 15 games than I do for the New England Patriots. I will take my one Super Bowl victory for the Colts who always did it the right way than 4 from a team like New England. It is just how I feel. There are win at all cost teams (Indiana Mens Basketball), and there are the New England Patriots.
Roger Godell has his hands full with this one. The commish who suspended Packman Jones for making it rain in a stripclub better get this one right. He needs to not make a snap decision and look at all possibilities, and he needs to come down hard on Bellicheat and Robert Kraft.
Before we discuss the realm of possible punishments for the 2001 New England Patriots lets hit 88 MPH in the Delorean and go back to 2002. I know that it was along time ago but we need to look at the state of the United States during that time period. It was almost 5 months after we had just been attacked as a country. These patriots were not the Patriots all of us despise now. This was an upstart 14 point underdog to the greatest show on turf. There was no Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning. No Colts vs. Pats, this was a country who needed something. The Pats just happened tobe that something. The team had never won a championhip and had an unknown back up QB who was not dating Supermodels, or being Hollywood in any sort of way.
Roger Godell needs to look closely at this, incident. Every fan saw the way he came down on Pacman Jones for something that happened way away from the hashmarks. I do not have any advice for the comish on this one except get it right. He has ruled with an iron fist to this day and he needs to do the same when it comes to on the field discrepencies. The biggest problem with our legal system is not how slow it is. In fact that is the beauty of it. It takes time to get all the facts. It takes time for educated people to make educated decisions on the situation. The best case for this is the Duke Lacrosse case. Anyone with a unbias brain could have seen that those kids were innocent. The story was not adding up. Swift justince as everyone wants is not a good idea. Swift justice would have caused those 3 young men to go through more agony than they already did.
My point is this Mr. Commish. Take your time with this one. Don't jump to conclusions, and when you do the punishment needs to be a dynamic blow to the rest of the NFL. You have to protect the integrety of the game. This incident was before your watch, but the Patriots and the rest NFL that this game needs to be played on a level playing field. The NFL owners deserve this, and the teams that do it right need to be rewarded for winning the right way. Had there been no spygate who knows how many the Colts would have won becuase in my opionion they were the best non cheating team.
As for Pacman Jones. His sentence is up. He needs to be reinstated. He served his year out. No matter what the guy deserves a shot at playing again. That is my opinion there is no point in dragging this out any longer. If you felt his penalty was to short than you should have made it two years. He has served his time. The Pats on the other hand need to be dealt an educated blow to their dynasty.
Since that day in history I have learned 1 thing. There is always next year. So if your team happens to lose remember that next year always rolls around and whatever happened the past year does not matter.
That being said I am not going to tell you who is going to win Super Bowl XLII. Truth is only god knows and truth is he probably has more things to do than worry about football. Arlen Spector (Democrat) from PA on the other hand cares more about football (Eagles) than helping his constituants.
Spy Gate Part Duex
First of all, is anyone suprised? I was so tired of the San Fransico 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys winning during my childhood I could have thrown up. But even with Leon Lett and Michael Irvan those teams had twice the charcter of your current dynasty the New England Patriots. This is just the tip of the iceberg with this team. I have a heck of alot more respect for a team that looses 15 games than I do for the New England Patriots. I will take my one Super Bowl victory for the Colts who always did it the right way than 4 from a team like New England. It is just how I feel. There are win at all cost teams (Indiana Mens Basketball), and there are the New England Patriots.
Roger Godell has his hands full with this one. The commish who suspended Packman Jones for making it rain in a stripclub better get this one right. He needs to not make a snap decision and look at all possibilities, and he needs to come down hard on Bellicheat and Robert Kraft.
Before we discuss the realm of possible punishments for the 2001 New England Patriots lets hit 88 MPH in the Delorean and go back to 2002. I know that it was along time ago but we need to look at the state of the United States during that time period. It was almost 5 months after we had just been attacked as a country. These patriots were not the Patriots all of us despise now. This was an upstart 14 point underdog to the greatest show on turf. There was no Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning. No Colts vs. Pats, this was a country who needed something. The Pats just happened tobe that something. The team had never won a championhip and had an unknown back up QB who was not dating Supermodels, or being Hollywood in any sort of way.
Roger Godell needs to look closely at this, incident. Every fan saw the way he came down on Pacman Jones for something that happened way away from the hashmarks. I do not have any advice for the comish on this one except get it right. He has ruled with an iron fist to this day and he needs to do the same when it comes to on the field discrepencies. The biggest problem with our legal system is not how slow it is. In fact that is the beauty of it. It takes time to get all the facts. It takes time for educated people to make educated decisions on the situation. The best case for this is the Duke Lacrosse case. Anyone with a unbias brain could have seen that those kids were innocent. The story was not adding up. Swift justince as everyone wants is not a good idea. Swift justice would have caused those 3 young men to go through more agony than they already did.
My point is this Mr. Commish. Take your time with this one. Don't jump to conclusions, and when you do the punishment needs to be a dynamic blow to the rest of the NFL. You have to protect the integrety of the game. This incident was before your watch, but the Patriots and the rest NFL that this game needs to be played on a level playing field. The NFL owners deserve this, and the teams that do it right need to be rewarded for winning the right way. Had there been no spygate who knows how many the Colts would have won becuase in my opionion they were the best non cheating team.
As for Pacman Jones. His sentence is up. He needs to be reinstated. He served his year out. No matter what the guy deserves a shot at playing again. That is my opinion there is no point in dragging this out any longer. If you felt his penalty was to short than you should have made it two years. He has served his time. The Pats on the other hand need to be dealt an educated blow to their dynasty.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
State of the NBA
David Stern needs to read this blog. Ok I know there are a million bloggers out there who have all the answers but seriously I am right. The NBA needs to seriously reconsider its marketing strategy. And I will tell you why.
First lets look at who the NBA markets. The NBA markets 13 year olds. 13 year old who don’t know what a chest pass is. All they care about is seeing LeBron highlights on the 6:30 AM Sports Center before Pre Algebra. This is a horrible marketing plan. The NBA wants to sell jerseys not tickets. It is awful on many fronts.
As I think about it I understand it more. The NBA wants to sell the league as whole not individual teams. The only problem with this is that it doesn’t create brand loyalty. There is no tradition. When I was 12 years old the Pacers swept the Orlando Magic, beat Atlanta in 6 and went on to the Eastern Conference finals. To that point Indiana had never had a professional sports organization do didly poo. The Colts were still awful and the Pacers to that point had been the essence of mediocrity. Anyway I have a brand loyalty to the Pacers.
What I am saying is this. Take Lebron for instance. Middle school kids all over the country purchased his Cleveland jersey. Fine. But the NBA needs to keep those kids accountable to that franchise. Instead they will market the next high school phenom to come through, and those kids will switch else where. The problem with fair weather fans is that they don’t purchase tickets. Lebron comes through Indianapolis twice a year? Kobe once, Garnett once and so on. No one wants to see the Pacers play another mediocre team. NFL fans on the other hand love seeing the mediocre Steelers play the mediocre Seahawks. Hell look at the ratings for Super Bowl XL.
The NBA has to start looking big picture. And I am sorry to say it, but the inner city is not the answer. It might hurt at the beginning, but you have to make it a corporate/ family event. I am not spending my hard earned money to watch ghetto superstar Stephen Jackson and his ugly jump shot. I would spend my hard earned money to see Larry Bird, Reggie Miller, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, and Kareem Abdul Jabaar.
Here is what I propose. The first thing is simple. Start drafting basketball players. Larry Bird was a 6 foot 7 inch power forward. He might be a second round draft pick now. Danny Granger is a basketball player, Michael Redd is a basketball player. Jermaine O’Neal is an athlete who plays basketball. There is a huge difference.
I think the one and done rule is solid, but I propose at least 2 years in college. I would go as far as to consider having a college diploma. Hear me out. You can get a general studies diploma in 3 years. You don’t think Jay Williams (former Duke Star/ Bulls point guard) who blew out his knee in 1 year is glad he did the work for that general studies degree.
First lets look at who the NBA markets. The NBA markets 13 year olds. 13 year old who don’t know what a chest pass is. All they care about is seeing LeBron highlights on the 6:30 AM Sports Center before Pre Algebra. This is a horrible marketing plan. The NBA wants to sell jerseys not tickets. It is awful on many fronts.
As I think about it I understand it more. The NBA wants to sell the league as whole not individual teams. The only problem with this is that it doesn’t create brand loyalty. There is no tradition. When I was 12 years old the Pacers swept the Orlando Magic, beat Atlanta in 6 and went on to the Eastern Conference finals. To that point Indiana had never had a professional sports organization do didly poo. The Colts were still awful and the Pacers to that point had been the essence of mediocrity. Anyway I have a brand loyalty to the Pacers.
What I am saying is this. Take Lebron for instance. Middle school kids all over the country purchased his Cleveland jersey. Fine. But the NBA needs to keep those kids accountable to that franchise. Instead they will market the next high school phenom to come through, and those kids will switch else where. The problem with fair weather fans is that they don’t purchase tickets. Lebron comes through Indianapolis twice a year? Kobe once, Garnett once and so on. No one wants to see the Pacers play another mediocre team. NFL fans on the other hand love seeing the mediocre Steelers play the mediocre Seahawks. Hell look at the ratings for Super Bowl XL.
The NBA has to start looking big picture. And I am sorry to say it, but the inner city is not the answer. It might hurt at the beginning, but you have to make it a corporate/ family event. I am not spending my hard earned money to watch ghetto superstar Stephen Jackson and his ugly jump shot. I would spend my hard earned money to see Larry Bird, Reggie Miller, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, and Kareem Abdul Jabaar.
Here is what I propose. The first thing is simple. Start drafting basketball players. Larry Bird was a 6 foot 7 inch power forward. He might be a second round draft pick now. Danny Granger is a basketball player, Michael Redd is a basketball player. Jermaine O’Neal is an athlete who plays basketball. There is a huge difference.
I think the one and done rule is solid, but I propose at least 2 years in college. I would go as far as to consider having a college diploma. Hear me out. You can get a general studies diploma in 3 years. You don’t think Jay Williams (former Duke Star/ Bulls point guard) who blew out his knee in 1 year is glad he did the work for that general studies degree.
Monday, October 8, 2007
NBC
NBC
My one blog reader gave me some feedback so I have decided to try it out lets see how it goes. I have always been a get to the point type of person and I think filler is crap but I am going to try set up my point before actually telling you what it is.
At the beginning of the last NFL season NBC took over the rights to the Sunday Night NFL game held by ESPN and ABC. With this deal the NFL in their immense wisdom decided to move the game of the weak to Sunday Night instead of the traditional Monday Night Game. Fox still retained the rights to the JV conference (the NFC) and all games in which the road team was a member of the NFC conference. CBS retained the rights to the AFC and the games in which the away team was a member of the AFC conference. Along with this was another Thanksgiving Day game to be televised on the NFL network in prime time. And Thursday night games there after also to be placed on the NFL network.
I have my issues with the no fun league on the NFL network. The NFL network is about one step behind pay per view. It is not available in all markets and is only available on the high end cable/ satellite packages. My HD cable costs 80 bucks a month and I still don’t get the NFL network.
The reason you take History classes in school is because we need to look at the past and the problems so we can avert them in the future. The great depression was avoidable had some changes been made in hindsight. Now the NFL network is not the great depression, but the NFL needs to look at the past. The best example is Indy Car vs. NASCAR. When I was a kid in the 80s you could never find Indy 500 video games anywhere. The closest thing was Al Unser Jr.’s Turbo racing. And that was when he was a F1 driver. NASCAR on the other hand would put their name on anything to get more exposure. While Indy Car was protecting its trademark, NASCAR was gaining fans. Another good example is boxing. Promoter Don King came along and took Boxing matches off regular TV and put them on pay per view. It was a brilliant idea in the short term, but it ultimately killed boxing in the long run, because as Muhammad Ali got older, and retired, no one wanted to see the next guy box, where as he would gain more exposure on National TV. It also really bugs me that I can’t get the video of Bob Sanders knocking the piss out of Willie Parker on youtube.com either.
Back to my original point, sorry about that. Anyway back in the day you would watch your team play Sunday afternoon and as soon as the game was over you would turn to ESPN to watch NFL primetime, The Patriots Sports Network known as ESPN at the time, (because the Patriots sucked). Primetime was brilliant because if your team won you would watch to see the highlights, and if they lost well you had to sulk for a couple minutes. The Colts did a lot of loosing back in those days. Anyway the legend who invented the NFL highlight show is Chris Berman. It was football and it was entertainment. You could watch your highlights and it was always interesting to see what nickname for a player Berman could come up with. Nicknames included but are not limited too, Mike “Your in good hands with” Alstot, Joseph “Live and Let” Addai, Tom “Here’s the story of a man named” Brady, Jake “Daylight come and you’ve gotta” Delhomme, and the greatest of all time Andre “Bad Moon” Risen. The names even stuck in baseball as well. Tom Jackson was also a guy who knew what he was talking about and didn’t get into the usual color guy “he sucks,” “or he’s over rated” type of color guy. He was someone who could explain the game to the basic fan and not piss of the players.
CBS and FOX followed suit, although no one could match ESPN’s game day coverage. Terry Bradshaw is loud and annoying, and I couldn’t even tell you who is on CBS. This all went away last year when NBC basically bought the rights to the NFL post game show.
Last year it premiered and it was horrible. The coverage wasn’t bad, although I hate the Steelers and can’t stand “The Bus” as a player he isn’t bad at being a color guy. Bob Costas held his own in his first season. It was everything else that went with the broadcast. I honestly felt like I was watching the Olympics. The lights the angles the darkness made me feel like it was Olympic time. To their credit NBC does do a good job of not arguing stupid facts like; “take your pick Vince Young or David Garrard.” This is when Sean Salsbury argues with Jon Clayton over a stupid point on the Patriots Sports Network (ESPN).
In my opinion NBC made two huge errors this year when trying to fix their problem with the NFL postgame show that they bought the monopoly on. First and foremost they picked Keith Olberman to play the comic relief that Berman has on primetime, and they picked the worst possible match ups for their game of the week Sunday Night Game.
A little more back ground, Sunday Night used to be the night for the 2nd best game of the week. This was perfect because after a day of watching football you could prepare for Monday with the game on in the background or whatever. If it happened to be good you could watch it but mostly it was good because it was a solid game. Monday is obviously the worst day of the week. So Monday Night Football gives everyone something to look forward too on Monday. Mondays in the fall aren’t that bad because you can always watch football. Maybe what makes ESPN so good at what they do is that they are so in tune with their customer. I don’t think anyone does it better in all of business. You and me are who they target and no one and I mean no one hits it more on the head than they do. The commercials are funny, and the TV is entertaining.
NBC on the other hand is not in tune with me the typical NFL fan. They pick the exact same teams for that major game every week. It is the big market high fan base teams, Chicago (played twice), the New York Giants, Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, and Washington Redskins. Now the NFC East is known for its mediocrity. The Giants won the conference last year with a 9-7 record. NBC says that these big markets draw the biggest TV ratings, but I have always hated that theory. NBC made the most costly of all errors by not paying whatever it took to get the Colts vs. Pats game. How stupid can you get? Believe it or not this rivalry has never been hotter. These two teams are clearly the class of the NFL and have been for the last 8 years. The Patriots have 3 rings and the Colts have 1, but the Colts have bested the Pats the last 3 times, and are playing in the dome. Where I don’t care who you are it isn’t an easy place to play. It is the loudest stadium in the NFL and when those players run out of that ring I don’t care who you are that intimidates you. The November 4th match up with be another ESPN classic game. (I wouldn’t mind seeing the Patriots win that won, because it betters the chance of Jim Irsay excepting the Lamar Hunt trophy in Boston!)
The final flaw of NBC is highering Keith Olberman to play the comic relief that Chris Berman did so well on NFL Primetime. Keith Olberman is a pompous asshole who is holy than thou and knows it. Fist of all he isn’t funny. Second of all he has no credibility anywhere he goes because he got his start at ESPN. To me it’s like watching Stuart Scott talk about the war in Iraq. Stuart Scott is my second favorite ESPN personality, but him doing hard news isn’t his forte.
Last night Olberman went on a rant about how Green Bay got it right, by keeping the small town team in its small city, and based franchises like Indianapolis, Baltimore, St. Louis and Arizona for leaving their cities for higher ground. First of all Green Bay is a small town with a great football tradition. I love the way Favre plays the game and their tradition there is second to none. I wish Indianapolis could support a team like Green Bay supports its Packers. But he made it seem like Green Bay was Des Moines Iowa. Green Bay is small but so is Foxborough. So is Pontiac Michigan. Hell the Giants and Jets play in Jersey. Just because they play in a small market doesn’t mean they have a small fan base. I bet it takes longer for Giants fans to commute to a game than Green Bay fans living within a 100 mile radius of Lambau field.
The number one problem with the media in our day and age is not its liberalism. It is that it is out of touch with America that is the America that doesn’t live in New York or LA. Americans want to watch Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning. We want to see what Vince Young can do, Reggie Bush, etc. Yeah I like watching Eli Manning play but dam put a freakin AFC team on once in a while. The AFC has the three best teams in the league New England, Indianapolis, and Pittsburg then maybe Dallas, but they will falter. You only have to be 10-6 to get a bye in the NFC anyway. I would much rather watch an up and coming crap team like the Cleveland Browns or Tennessee Titans than the 9-7 Giants.
NBC and the rest of the media need to see what life is like in Indianapolis, Green Bay, and Des Moines Iowa. They would make a lot more money if they got their heads outta their asses and paid attention. It’s the same reason why Blue Collar Comedy changed the face of Entertainment in America. It is no coincidence that after that show came out movies started getting better. NBC pay attention to your fans, your alienating them.
My one blog reader gave me some feedback so I have decided to try it out lets see how it goes. I have always been a get to the point type of person and I think filler is crap but I am going to try set up my point before actually telling you what it is.
At the beginning of the last NFL season NBC took over the rights to the Sunday Night NFL game held by ESPN and ABC. With this deal the NFL in their immense wisdom decided to move the game of the weak to Sunday Night instead of the traditional Monday Night Game. Fox still retained the rights to the JV conference (the NFC) and all games in which the road team was a member of the NFC conference. CBS retained the rights to the AFC and the games in which the away team was a member of the AFC conference. Along with this was another Thanksgiving Day game to be televised on the NFL network in prime time. And Thursday night games there after also to be placed on the NFL network.
I have my issues with the no fun league on the NFL network. The NFL network is about one step behind pay per view. It is not available in all markets and is only available on the high end cable/ satellite packages. My HD cable costs 80 bucks a month and I still don’t get the NFL network.
The reason you take History classes in school is because we need to look at the past and the problems so we can avert them in the future. The great depression was avoidable had some changes been made in hindsight. Now the NFL network is not the great depression, but the NFL needs to look at the past. The best example is Indy Car vs. NASCAR. When I was a kid in the 80s you could never find Indy 500 video games anywhere. The closest thing was Al Unser Jr.’s Turbo racing. And that was when he was a F1 driver. NASCAR on the other hand would put their name on anything to get more exposure. While Indy Car was protecting its trademark, NASCAR was gaining fans. Another good example is boxing. Promoter Don King came along and took Boxing matches off regular TV and put them on pay per view. It was a brilliant idea in the short term, but it ultimately killed boxing in the long run, because as Muhammad Ali got older, and retired, no one wanted to see the next guy box, where as he would gain more exposure on National TV. It also really bugs me that I can’t get the video of Bob Sanders knocking the piss out of Willie Parker on youtube.com either.
Back to my original point, sorry about that. Anyway back in the day you would watch your team play Sunday afternoon and as soon as the game was over you would turn to ESPN to watch NFL primetime, The Patriots Sports Network known as ESPN at the time, (because the Patriots sucked). Primetime was brilliant because if your team won you would watch to see the highlights, and if they lost well you had to sulk for a couple minutes. The Colts did a lot of loosing back in those days. Anyway the legend who invented the NFL highlight show is Chris Berman. It was football and it was entertainment. You could watch your highlights and it was always interesting to see what nickname for a player Berman could come up with. Nicknames included but are not limited too, Mike “Your in good hands with” Alstot, Joseph “Live and Let” Addai, Tom “Here’s the story of a man named” Brady, Jake “Daylight come and you’ve gotta” Delhomme, and the greatest of all time Andre “Bad Moon” Risen. The names even stuck in baseball as well. Tom Jackson was also a guy who knew what he was talking about and didn’t get into the usual color guy “he sucks,” “or he’s over rated” type of color guy. He was someone who could explain the game to the basic fan and not piss of the players.
CBS and FOX followed suit, although no one could match ESPN’s game day coverage. Terry Bradshaw is loud and annoying, and I couldn’t even tell you who is on CBS. This all went away last year when NBC basically bought the rights to the NFL post game show.
Last year it premiered and it was horrible. The coverage wasn’t bad, although I hate the Steelers and can’t stand “The Bus” as a player he isn’t bad at being a color guy. Bob Costas held his own in his first season. It was everything else that went with the broadcast. I honestly felt like I was watching the Olympics. The lights the angles the darkness made me feel like it was Olympic time. To their credit NBC does do a good job of not arguing stupid facts like; “take your pick Vince Young or David Garrard.” This is when Sean Salsbury argues with Jon Clayton over a stupid point on the Patriots Sports Network (ESPN).
In my opinion NBC made two huge errors this year when trying to fix their problem with the NFL postgame show that they bought the monopoly on. First and foremost they picked Keith Olberman to play the comic relief that Berman has on primetime, and they picked the worst possible match ups for their game of the week Sunday Night Game.
A little more back ground, Sunday Night used to be the night for the 2nd best game of the week. This was perfect because after a day of watching football you could prepare for Monday with the game on in the background or whatever. If it happened to be good you could watch it but mostly it was good because it was a solid game. Monday is obviously the worst day of the week. So Monday Night Football gives everyone something to look forward too on Monday. Mondays in the fall aren’t that bad because you can always watch football. Maybe what makes ESPN so good at what they do is that they are so in tune with their customer. I don’t think anyone does it better in all of business. You and me are who they target and no one and I mean no one hits it more on the head than they do. The commercials are funny, and the TV is entertaining.
NBC on the other hand is not in tune with me the typical NFL fan. They pick the exact same teams for that major game every week. It is the big market high fan base teams, Chicago (played twice), the New York Giants, Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, and Washington Redskins. Now the NFC East is known for its mediocrity. The Giants won the conference last year with a 9-7 record. NBC says that these big markets draw the biggest TV ratings, but I have always hated that theory. NBC made the most costly of all errors by not paying whatever it took to get the Colts vs. Pats game. How stupid can you get? Believe it or not this rivalry has never been hotter. These two teams are clearly the class of the NFL and have been for the last 8 years. The Patriots have 3 rings and the Colts have 1, but the Colts have bested the Pats the last 3 times, and are playing in the dome. Where I don’t care who you are it isn’t an easy place to play. It is the loudest stadium in the NFL and when those players run out of that ring I don’t care who you are that intimidates you. The November 4th match up with be another ESPN classic game. (I wouldn’t mind seeing the Patriots win that won, because it betters the chance of Jim Irsay excepting the Lamar Hunt trophy in Boston!)
The final flaw of NBC is highering Keith Olberman to play the comic relief that Chris Berman did so well on NFL Primetime. Keith Olberman is a pompous asshole who is holy than thou and knows it. Fist of all he isn’t funny. Second of all he has no credibility anywhere he goes because he got his start at ESPN. To me it’s like watching Stuart Scott talk about the war in Iraq. Stuart Scott is my second favorite ESPN personality, but him doing hard news isn’t his forte.
Last night Olberman went on a rant about how Green Bay got it right, by keeping the small town team in its small city, and based franchises like Indianapolis, Baltimore, St. Louis and Arizona for leaving their cities for higher ground. First of all Green Bay is a small town with a great football tradition. I love the way Favre plays the game and their tradition there is second to none. I wish Indianapolis could support a team like Green Bay supports its Packers. But he made it seem like Green Bay was Des Moines Iowa. Green Bay is small but so is Foxborough. So is Pontiac Michigan. Hell the Giants and Jets play in Jersey. Just because they play in a small market doesn’t mean they have a small fan base. I bet it takes longer for Giants fans to commute to a game than Green Bay fans living within a 100 mile radius of Lambau field.
The number one problem with the media in our day and age is not its liberalism. It is that it is out of touch with America that is the America that doesn’t live in New York or LA. Americans want to watch Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning. We want to see what Vince Young can do, Reggie Bush, etc. Yeah I like watching Eli Manning play but dam put a freakin AFC team on once in a while. The AFC has the three best teams in the league New England, Indianapolis, and Pittsburg then maybe Dallas, but they will falter. You only have to be 10-6 to get a bye in the NFC anyway. I would much rather watch an up and coming crap team like the Cleveland Browns or Tennessee Titans than the 9-7 Giants.
NBC and the rest of the media need to see what life is like in Indianapolis, Green Bay, and Des Moines Iowa. They would make a lot more money if they got their heads outta their asses and paid attention. It’s the same reason why Blue Collar Comedy changed the face of Entertainment in America. It is no coincidence that after that show came out movies started getting better. NBC pay attention to your fans, your alienating them.
Saturday, October 6, 2007
All things cursed
86 years without a Red Sox Championship! It’s the curse of the Bambino. I think that is the dumbest thing in the entire world. And after the Red Sox championship in 2005 I bet you felt really dumb, but nope that was what someone owed you. In fact if I claimed to be cursed and then I won a championship I would feel like a moron!
Professional sports are entertainment, pure and simple. The fact of the matter is as fans we are owed nothing. I have lived and died with my teams just as fans all over the country have. But the simple fact is Peyton Manning does not owe me anything. In fact to think that we suffer with our teams the way the players do is ludicrous and dumb. Yes, those guys make millions of dollars, yes some of them are spoiled brats, yes they make bad choices like the rest of us. But pure and simple they are all competitive. They want to win just as bad you want them to win. I keep thinking about that ball that went between Bill Buckner’s legs. I don’t think that was a curse, I think it was human error.
These professional athletes practice so much and are so good we almost expect them to be robots, in fact on Madden video games the are robots. They are assigned numbers based on how good some nerd in Seattle thinks they are. Then you get to go in there and you can sign any free agent you want to make your team better, and you get to play General Manager and coach. The problem is that these players don’t have numbers in real life. Peyton Manning is not a 99 quarterback every play of every game. When he gets hit on Sunday afternoon he bleeds, when he gets hit on Tuesday afternoon in Madden it doesn’t hurt that bad. And when he is our for the season in Madden you just simulate the season and all is well.
Back to “the dreaded curse,” in case you’ve been stuck under a rock for the past 86 years, the Red Sox went through a drought in which they didn’t win a championship for 86 years! Fans figured that trading the great bambino (Babe Ruth) to the hated Yankees caused the baseball gods to “curse” them for 86 years! Then in 2005 down 3 games to none, they pulled off one of the greatest comebacks in sports history (only to be outdone a year later by a hick boy from Louisiana named Peyton Manning).
Now, most people claim that these 86 years were the worst pain they went through in their entire life. In fact Philadelphia just passed them for most owed sports fans in the entire nation. The thing is that after the Colts lost to the Steelers in the ’05 playoffs I woke up Monday morning and life went on. These athletes do not owe anything to us as fans.
The thing that makes me most angry is that in those 86 years the Boston Celtics won 16 championships! The Boston Bruins won 5 Stanley Cups! And the New England Patriots won 3 Super Bowls! In fact in 6 years the Boston area has won 4 Championships! If there is a town who has no room to complain it is Boston. I am sorry but you got to look on the bright side. I am frustrated with the Pacers as much as anyone, but give me a break. They have won a championship since the early 70’s. That’s near 40 years, and that was an ABA championship.
The way I see it is like this. I think that the Philadelphia area is cursed. They are cursed because they have the most overzealous, arrogant, the world hates us attitude of any human beings alive. I am glad the Colts won the championship the way they did. I would be embarrassed if my town would have booed Santa Clause or Applauded when Michael Irvin was taken off in a stretcher. I understand that the Cowboys are a huge rival, but I was truly wishing Teddy Brushi the best when he had a stroke. I would be embarrassed for my city if we acted like that. In fact I think the Midwest and the south should just secede from the sports union, because that is just horrible. The worst part is this east coast fan attitude isn’t just Philadelphia. It isn’t much different in Baltimore, New York, and Boston. The North East can have their Ivy League, intelligent people, and Democrats. I will take my 1 professional sports championship over Boston’s 25 any day. Especially since our city did it with class and dignity.
I think what makes sports such great entertainment is that it always leaves you wanting more. After the Colts lost all those times in the playoffs I wanted just one more game even if it didn’t count. After they won the Super Bowl I asked myself is this it? You mean we don’t take on the world next Sunday? Sports are not life; I love sports as much as the next guy, but Monday comes just as it did last week after you won. And no matter what there is always next year.
It is ok to have healthy rivalries with teams that you dislike, that is what makes sports fun. But this east coast hatred attitude toward other people needs to stop. It really does no good. What do you accomplish when you flip off Peyton Manning on the way to the stadium? Do you think he hasn’t seen it before? Do you think your getting in his head? Seriously? Ask Asante Samuel what happens when you piss off Marvin Harrison? You get put on ESPN classic every single weekend for the wrong reasons. (That was awesome when Samuel talked trash to Marvin and he straight up torched him the whole drive and then made on of the amazing Marvin catches!)
Professional sports are entertainment, pure and simple. The fact of the matter is as fans we are owed nothing. I have lived and died with my teams just as fans all over the country have. But the simple fact is Peyton Manning does not owe me anything. In fact to think that we suffer with our teams the way the players do is ludicrous and dumb. Yes, those guys make millions of dollars, yes some of them are spoiled brats, yes they make bad choices like the rest of us. But pure and simple they are all competitive. They want to win just as bad you want them to win. I keep thinking about that ball that went between Bill Buckner’s legs. I don’t think that was a curse, I think it was human error.
These professional athletes practice so much and are so good we almost expect them to be robots, in fact on Madden video games the are robots. They are assigned numbers based on how good some nerd in Seattle thinks they are. Then you get to go in there and you can sign any free agent you want to make your team better, and you get to play General Manager and coach. The problem is that these players don’t have numbers in real life. Peyton Manning is not a 99 quarterback every play of every game. When he gets hit on Sunday afternoon he bleeds, when he gets hit on Tuesday afternoon in Madden it doesn’t hurt that bad. And when he is our for the season in Madden you just simulate the season and all is well.
Back to “the dreaded curse,” in case you’ve been stuck under a rock for the past 86 years, the Red Sox went through a drought in which they didn’t win a championship for 86 years! Fans figured that trading the great bambino (Babe Ruth) to the hated Yankees caused the baseball gods to “curse” them for 86 years! Then in 2005 down 3 games to none, they pulled off one of the greatest comebacks in sports history (only to be outdone a year later by a hick boy from Louisiana named Peyton Manning).
Now, most people claim that these 86 years were the worst pain they went through in their entire life. In fact Philadelphia just passed them for most owed sports fans in the entire nation. The thing is that after the Colts lost to the Steelers in the ’05 playoffs I woke up Monday morning and life went on. These athletes do not owe anything to us as fans.
The thing that makes me most angry is that in those 86 years the Boston Celtics won 16 championships! The Boston Bruins won 5 Stanley Cups! And the New England Patriots won 3 Super Bowls! In fact in 6 years the Boston area has won 4 Championships! If there is a town who has no room to complain it is Boston. I am sorry but you got to look on the bright side. I am frustrated with the Pacers as much as anyone, but give me a break. They have won a championship since the early 70’s. That’s near 40 years, and that was an ABA championship.
The way I see it is like this. I think that the Philadelphia area is cursed. They are cursed because they have the most overzealous, arrogant, the world hates us attitude of any human beings alive. I am glad the Colts won the championship the way they did. I would be embarrassed if my town would have booed Santa Clause or Applauded when Michael Irvin was taken off in a stretcher. I understand that the Cowboys are a huge rival, but I was truly wishing Teddy Brushi the best when he had a stroke. I would be embarrassed for my city if we acted like that. In fact I think the Midwest and the south should just secede from the sports union, because that is just horrible. The worst part is this east coast fan attitude isn’t just Philadelphia. It isn’t much different in Baltimore, New York, and Boston. The North East can have their Ivy League, intelligent people, and Democrats. I will take my 1 professional sports championship over Boston’s 25 any day. Especially since our city did it with class and dignity.
I think what makes sports such great entertainment is that it always leaves you wanting more. After the Colts lost all those times in the playoffs I wanted just one more game even if it didn’t count. After they won the Super Bowl I asked myself is this it? You mean we don’t take on the world next Sunday? Sports are not life; I love sports as much as the next guy, but Monday comes just as it did last week after you won. And no matter what there is always next year.
It is ok to have healthy rivalries with teams that you dislike, that is what makes sports fun. But this east coast hatred attitude toward other people needs to stop. It really does no good. What do you accomplish when you flip off Peyton Manning on the way to the stadium? Do you think he hasn’t seen it before? Do you think your getting in his head? Seriously? Ask Asante Samuel what happens when you piss off Marvin Harrison? You get put on ESPN classic every single weekend for the wrong reasons. (That was awesome when Samuel talked trash to Marvin and he straight up torched him the whole drive and then made on of the amazing Marvin catches!)
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Colorado Rockies
Colorado Rockies
I am rooting for the Colorado Rockies in the Baseball Playoffs. First of all they are playing the Phillies. I love seeing east coast teams in any sport get beat by other teams. Cuase after they lose its always the funniest thing I have ever heard. Such comments as “The ref blew the game,” “If we could our cheap owner could only spend more money on an over rated free agent,” and my personal favorite “Were Cursed!”
I honestly think the Rockies have a pretty good shot to do some damage this fall. They have played solid baseball since the all star break. They have the best record since the all star break and won 13 of 14 to get into the show. That is the kind of momentum you want going into the playoffs. The Phillies were definitely playing better ball at the end of the season, but had the Mets not choked on a rubber dildo, down the stretch they might not be here.
I am also rooting for the D Backs in that series. Even though I don’t care as much about that one, its always good to see a good curse continue. I don’t care about the AL side. Even though I would bet my house that the Red Sox and Yankees will end up in the ALCS just for TV ratings. Even though I hate both cities I hate New York less, even the Yankees.
This is kind of obscure but there is a conversation going back and forth on the face book group “6”5 230 Lbs. Laser Rocket Arm, Lovers.” It is starting to tick me off a little. First of all the Colts are the champs’ period. If my team lost to the champs I would have no ground to talk shit. This is why I hate East Coast fans. First of all they have horrible attitudes. Ok in the 86 years that the Red Sox were cursed your dam city won 25 championships! 25 championships! Indianapolis will be lucky to get 10 championships before global warming causes the polar ice caps to melt and Manhattan and Los Angeles are under water, making Indianapolis the new New York.
Ok your team got owned in the AFC Championship game. That was a game for the ages. It will go down as one of the greatest games ever played. I was in the stands at that game watching two amazing quarterbacks Tom Brady and Peyton Manning go at it. I will always remember thinking to myself “I don’t care if the Colts win this game, I am glad I am here to witness it.” That’s how amazing that game was. The beautiful thing about it was that it was a clean game. There was no Ty Law holding type calls, or Kordel Stewart stepping out of bounds. You can maybe argue that Kelvin Hayden did have a pass interference call, but whatever. Anyway the Colts won. If my team lost I wouldn’t talk shit.
A Philly fan said and I quote “If Rex Grossman was a real NFL quarterback your team would have never won that Super Bowl.” Rex Grossman was good enough to get the Bears to the big show. He was playing Peyton Manning. Plus Peyton Manning just beat Tom Brady to get to the Big Show. And by the way Joseph Addai and his coming out party happened against the Philadelphia Eagles on national TV when he ran for 174 yards and 4 touchdowns. And the Colts absolutely kick the crap out of the Eagles every time they play them. Like not even a contest.
The Colts and Patriots seasons will not matter till January anyway. The game in November is pointless. The only difference will be where the AFC championship game will be played Boston or Indianapolis. The role reversal is kind of hilarious. It used to be Peyton who put up amazing stats in the regular season and Brady who won all the rings. Now it’s Brady who is a fantasy stud, and Manning who wins the rings. I feel as if there is always a chink in the armor of every team. Everyone knows how to beat the Colts, run the ball and keep Peyton off the field. Play cover two on defense and hope to god he messes up. There is a chink in the Patriots armor somewhere. It is still early so teams are going to have to try to figure it out.
If I was a bettin man, on November 4, I would take the points. The Patriots are a better team talent wise no question about it. But to be honest the Colts have more championship experience. A lot of the players are gone from those Pats teams of a couple years ago and Peyton can score with anyone it should be fun. Go Horse!
I am rooting for the Colorado Rockies in the Baseball Playoffs. First of all they are playing the Phillies. I love seeing east coast teams in any sport get beat by other teams. Cuase after they lose its always the funniest thing I have ever heard. Such comments as “The ref blew the game,” “If we could our cheap owner could only spend more money on an over rated free agent,” and my personal favorite “Were Cursed!”
I honestly think the Rockies have a pretty good shot to do some damage this fall. They have played solid baseball since the all star break. They have the best record since the all star break and won 13 of 14 to get into the show. That is the kind of momentum you want going into the playoffs. The Phillies were definitely playing better ball at the end of the season, but had the Mets not choked on a rubber dildo, down the stretch they might not be here.
I am also rooting for the D Backs in that series. Even though I don’t care as much about that one, its always good to see a good curse continue. I don’t care about the AL side. Even though I would bet my house that the Red Sox and Yankees will end up in the ALCS just for TV ratings. Even though I hate both cities I hate New York less, even the Yankees.
This is kind of obscure but there is a conversation going back and forth on the face book group “6”5 230 Lbs. Laser Rocket Arm, Lovers.” It is starting to tick me off a little. First of all the Colts are the champs’ period. If my team lost to the champs I would have no ground to talk shit. This is why I hate East Coast fans. First of all they have horrible attitudes. Ok in the 86 years that the Red Sox were cursed your dam city won 25 championships! 25 championships! Indianapolis will be lucky to get 10 championships before global warming causes the polar ice caps to melt and Manhattan and Los Angeles are under water, making Indianapolis the new New York.
Ok your team got owned in the AFC Championship game. That was a game for the ages. It will go down as one of the greatest games ever played. I was in the stands at that game watching two amazing quarterbacks Tom Brady and Peyton Manning go at it. I will always remember thinking to myself “I don’t care if the Colts win this game, I am glad I am here to witness it.” That’s how amazing that game was. The beautiful thing about it was that it was a clean game. There was no Ty Law holding type calls, or Kordel Stewart stepping out of bounds. You can maybe argue that Kelvin Hayden did have a pass interference call, but whatever. Anyway the Colts won. If my team lost I wouldn’t talk shit.
A Philly fan said and I quote “If Rex Grossman was a real NFL quarterback your team would have never won that Super Bowl.” Rex Grossman was good enough to get the Bears to the big show. He was playing Peyton Manning. Plus Peyton Manning just beat Tom Brady to get to the Big Show. And by the way Joseph Addai and his coming out party happened against the Philadelphia Eagles on national TV when he ran for 174 yards and 4 touchdowns. And the Colts absolutely kick the crap out of the Eagles every time they play them. Like not even a contest.
The Colts and Patriots seasons will not matter till January anyway. The game in November is pointless. The only difference will be where the AFC championship game will be played Boston or Indianapolis. The role reversal is kind of hilarious. It used to be Peyton who put up amazing stats in the regular season and Brady who won all the rings. Now it’s Brady who is a fantasy stud, and Manning who wins the rings. I feel as if there is always a chink in the armor of every team. Everyone knows how to beat the Colts, run the ball and keep Peyton off the field. Play cover two on defense and hope to god he messes up. There is a chink in the Patriots armor somewhere. It is still early so teams are going to have to try to figure it out.
If I was a bettin man, on November 4, I would take the points. The Patriots are a better team talent wise no question about it. But to be honest the Colts have more championship experience. A lot of the players are gone from those Pats teams of a couple years ago and Peyton can score with anyone it should be fun. Go Horse!
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