Random thoughts...

My apologies for the severe lack of posts the last couple of weeks, but I've been traveling and very busy with stuff.

Here are some random thoughts:

-Can we please never host a regular season game in England again? I love the country, but this weekend's debacle between the Giants vs. Dolphins shows that while the real "football" rules in Europe, the NFL needs to stay here and do it the best way they know how, instead of thousands of miles away. The game and lead-up was sleep inducing.

-So much for the curse of the Bambino...the Red Sox took home another title by cruising past the Rockies who looked like a young team with a long layover.

-Everybody whining about the Pats running up the score is funny. The game is professional football. Athletes on both sides of the field are getting paid millions to do a job. If one team is just that much better than the other, than they need to take their trouncing like a man or step up and do something about it. That said, Belicheck is obviously pissed off about Spygate and the questioning of past championships being tainted. Wouldn't it be great if one of his key players got hurt during one of his upcoming beatdowns of any team not named the Colts?

-Speaking of the Colts, this weeks match-up between the Colts and Pats IS a match-up of the century. We hear that term so much in college football, but the fact that these two teams are unbeaten this late in the season will make it a huge regular season showdown, probably the biggest ever. Anyone remember the last time two undefeated squads met up this late? Well, my grandfather was about 3 months old when it happened, in 1921!!! I think we can all expect a higher scoring affair than the 0-0 tie between the Buffalo All-Americans and the Akron Pros. Solid team nicknames back in the 20's...

-The richest man in baseball interrupts your World Series viewing to announce, yes, he wants even more money! Everyone who has a gripe about this probably doesn't understand business. A-Rod has a product to sell...himself. What better stage to do it than on national TV in front of the entire baseball viewing audience (ok, maybe not that many people considering the boring series, but still...)? Sure the guy is selfish, but he and his agent are masters at getting every dollar out of whichever team is willing to pay and know how to utilize the media to create this wonderful A-Rod commotion.

-Finally, the MLS Cup playoffs are in full swing. This just in...soccer is fun and exciting to watch...even in the USA. I know there aren't a lot of fans in this country, but MLS is fun to watch. With Chicago possibly upsetting DC on Thursday, and three other great matchups this weekend, be sure to tune in and catch a sport that is growing and fun to watch despite what its many detractors in the media and sports fandom in this country claim.

I will hopefully be putting up a regular podcast in the near future, so be on the lookout for that in the upcoming weeks.

Thanks for being loyal readers...I appreciate all of you!

Good behavior?

This story is just sickening. It shows why criminals don't deserve time off of their sentences for good behavior.

Death sentence for leaving 5-year-old to be eaten by gators

This guy is one sick individual.

Pointless Polling...Part 2 Update

Last month, it was discussed on this blogosphere how pointless pre-season polls were.

Well, let's revisit that issue and see were we stand with about half the college football season complete.

Pre-season AP Top 25 followed by Current AP Top 25
1. USC - Currently #13
2. LSU - Currently #5
3. West Virginia - Currently #9
4. Texas - Currently #19
5. Michigan - Currently #24
6. Florida - Currently #14
7. Wisconsin - Currently unranked
8. Oklahoma - Currently #4
9. Virginia Tech - Currently #11
10. Louisville - Currently unranked
11. Ohio State - Currently #1
12. California - Currently #10
13. Georgia - Currently #21
14. UCLA - Currently unranked
15. Tennessee - Currently #20
16. Rutgers - Currently unranked
17. Penn State - Currently unranked
18. Auburn - Currently #18
19. Florida State - Currently unranked
20. Nebraska - Currently unranked
21. Arkansas - Currently unranked
22. TCU - Currently unranked
23. Hawaii - Currently #17
24. Boise State - Currently unranked
25. Texas A&M - Currently unranked

Let's look at the three most telling facts:
-11 of the 25 teams in the pre-season AP Top 25 are no longer in the Top 25.
-5 of the current Top 10 teams were unranked at the start of the season.
-Only 3 of the current Top 10 teams were ranked in the Top 10 to start the season.

Although this college football season has been ripe with upsets, it continually holds true that a pre-season Top 25 poll is pure guesswork. Let the athletes decide everything on the field and it will all play out eventually...oh wait, there is that whole BCS monster isn't there? So much for letting the athletes decide it!

Pabst Blue Ribbon at it's finest!

I enjoy laughing, so please continue feeding this guy the PBR's and filming the hilarity that is sure to follow...

Travis Johnson = class..................NOT!

Poor Trent Green. The guy signs a deal with the horrible Miami Dolphins and "leads" them to an 0-4 start. Game 5 presents a chance to beat a mediocre Houston Texans team on the road and Green was giving his all to help his team win.

Problem is, Travis Johnson is a 300+ pound monster. Unfortunately, Green forgot the great Jack Parkman's advice in Major League 2 about not "standing on the train tracks when the train is coming through."

Please take note Mr. Green: Quarterbacks should never try to block anyone, let alone a nose tackle with his full momentum moving towards making a play on a ball carrier.

What happened next, though, was sad and deplorable.

Trent Green tried to cut block Johnson, legally according to the current rules. He managed to make Johnson flip head over heels, but in the process jarred his neck/head and laid motionless on the Reliant Stadium turf. It was a sad moment and one that will probably lead to the end of Green's career after a major concussion last year and now this Grade 3 one.

The play had finished and Johnson got up and proceeded to taunt and point fingers at Green, while probably cursing him out every which way possible. This was happening while Green still lay MOTIONLESS on the ground, possibly concussed, paralyzed, or dead for all we knew.

It was a deplorable sight and totally classless.

Of course, its understood that Johnson could have easily busted his knee up or suffered a season-ending or even career threatening injury due to Green going very low on his block. But, the guy is a quarterback...blocking isn't really his expertise.

It was amazing that no Dolphins came to Green's defense aside from their long-haired Samoan rookie center, and even he really did nothing but point a finger to the refs hoping for a flag.

The game finished and the Dolphins lost in typical fashion.

Then, Johnson's wonderful post-game interview session.

Ah, the idiocy!

Johnson went off on a tirade against Green, cursing him and using a reference to the Wizard of Oz which he botched up pretty badly. He had no apology for his earlier reaction, which definitely happened in the heat of the moment.

Instead he just took the time to question Green and call him out. Nice show of compassion for a guy who's career might be done thanks to that play. He wasn't trying to hurt you, he was trying to make a play. Sure, Johnson could have been hurt on the play, but he could have easily used better tact and judgment when responding and reacting to the block in the post-game press conference.

As a Florida State University alum, its sad for me to see how Johnson reacted to this play and the post-game questioning. Although according to his NFLPlayers.com page, he went to school at Florida, he was a Seminole defensive lineman a few years ago. After this recent incident, I wish he was a Gator product, because that type of reaction both post-play and post-game were unacceptable and classless.

Johnson then gave a forced apology in a secondary interview which was obviously forced on him by some Texan P.R. staff member, but it couldn't correct what he already did.

Keith Olberman was right on point last night, Travis Johnson, you are this week's "Worst Person in the NFL".

Collapserific!

The collapse like no other, your 2007 New York Mets.

The pathetic last month for the "Amazin's" will leave historians trying to find a bigger collapse in Major League Baseball history. Problem is, there are none bigger.

So instead of dwelling on the negative and wasting time writing up all the reasons for the unprecedented collapse, let's look back at the good old days of the 1986 Mets and their amazing victory over the Red Sox in this classicly scripted RBI Baseball moment:



Ah, now doesn't it feel better Mets fans? Just be happy your name isn't Bill Buckner.