Search Results

The sports world is raving about Eli’s appearance on SNL. I thought it was overall okay. The bar was low for me cause I generally find Eli to be awkward and stiff. But he’s such a nice guy I figured he’d be game for whatever SNL  came up with. And it looks like that was true and it paid off.

Here’s my favorite skit from Eli’s appearance. Eli starts a charity called “Little Brother” where he helps boys get back at their obnoxious older brother. There’s one part where he’s stuffing an older brother in a trunk and he refers to the boy as Peyton. I screamed at that part. Hilarious.

As you can see, NFL.com took a modest approach to the Tebow-to-Jets story

A couple seasons ago we had a drinking game. If the Dolphins were playing (and you have the misfortunate of having to watch) take a drink every single time you hear the term “wildcat.” That season, if you played that game, you AND Ronnie Brown would be drunk by the end of the 2nd quarter. We tried to do it last season and were sober all game. The wildcat went the way of some other trends in the NFL. And I, for one, was glad to see it go.

Fast forward to this offseason (we need another word cause the NFL truly does not have one of those), the Jets have acquired former Dolphins coach Tony Sparano to run their offense and now Tim Tebow to…to…well, isn’t that the question? What exactly do the Jets want Tebow to do? Of course it’s possible that the Jets acquire Tebow as a true backup. A guy that only gets 2nd team reps and only plays if the starter cannot. But this smells like something more. Actually, it’s not a smell…it’s more like a stench.

Last year, to “motivate” Sanchez Rex Ryan started giving over-the-hill-no-chance-in-hell-he’d-ever-play-wasn’t-that-good-when-he-did-play back up QB Mark Brunell some of Sanchez’s reps. When the media and bloggers (including myself!) pointed out how effing ridiculous it is to try to motivate a starter by giving reps to someone who hasn’t a chance in hell of taking that person’s job the Jets pretended as though the change in reps was just par for the course and nothing to worry about.

Except people did worry. They worried that Sanchez wasn’t mentally tough enough to deal with all the pressure of being an NFL QB in a major media market. Fast forward to the end of the season and the Jets had a complete meltdown with the first of the strong rumblings coming after safety Eric Smith took a bad angle and couldn’t tackle Tebow costing the Jets an opportunity to win the game. When the season was officially over anonymous receivers named Santonio Holmes and Plaxico Burress couldn’t wait to criticize Sanchez. Next thing you know there were fingers being pointed everywhere and the Jets drama was dominating the news cycle with 8th string QBs giving us the 411.

You’d think a team that had gone through all of that would take the low key approach to fixing the mess in their franchise. But not the Jets. They first pursue Peyton Manning and after being brutally rebuffed make an odd gesture to Mark Sanchez by extending his contract unnecessarily — and without much extra money added to it. So basically they began yet another exercise in just plain being insulting. They barely waited a week before they jumped into the Tebow fray announcing the deal was done before reading Tebow’s contract and finding out they’d have to add another 5 million to the price. Yet another embarrassment. But not to be discouraged they ended up going through with the deal anyway.

[To read the rest of this post, click on the Read More tab below]

(more…)

According to reports Peyton Manning will make a decision about what team he’s signing with Monday or Tuesday. The teams still in the running include the 49ers, the Broncos, and 89 year old Bud Adams’ oft-maligned Tennessee Titans.

Out of the teams left in the running, the first two make the strongest case for why Peyton should sign with them. The 49ers are a SuperBowl caliber team with a great QB at the helm. They also boast an awesome location and a passionate coach. The Broncos won quite a few games and went to the playoffs led by Tim Tebow–imagine what they could accomplish with Manning under center. Not only would Manning make their team stronger he would give them a way to get rid of Tebow without any blowback cause who can argue against getting the elusive elite QB who is virtually beloved by all. Even Tebow fanatics know he’s no PeyPey.

If Peyton cares about winning more than he cares about 5 years and 90 million dollars, he’ll choose the 49ers or Broncos and be done with it. But Adams is willing to give Peyton anything his heart desires including, as I’ve heard, a strong role in the organization after retirement. This is the part where most reporters and bloggers probably purport to know what Peyton cares most about. But knowing such a thing at this stage seems impossible.

[To read the rest of this post click the Read More tab below]

(more…)

Last week I didn’t blog much. It’s not that I don’t have anything to say. I had plenty thoughts on why I think Dwight Howard’s a coward, and why I empathize with Bud Adams’ quest for Peyton Manning, and I can’t wait to get something up about how the Dolphins Matt Moore isn’t chopped liver!

But as much as I love sports, hearing about the cold blooded murder of Trayvon Martin made every single thing in the world seem less important to me. If you’re not up to date on the case, Trayvon was from Miami and had just turned 17. He traveled to Sanford, FL to stay with his dad and his dad’s fiancee. He went to the store to get some skittles and a can of tea. On his way back, he was stalked and murdered by George Zimmerman who claimed Trayvon looked suspicious,  followed him against the advisement of 911 operators, and subsequently shot him dead about 70 yards from the doorstep of the house at which he was staying.

The police did not detain Zimmerman preferring to believe his statement that he shot the child in self defense and to poo poo witness reports to the contrary. Now we wait for the State’s attorney’s office and the US attorney’s office to hopefully lend some justice to the death of a little boy who should still be alive and studying to be a pilot.

The mere thought that a person could be followed at night by a 200lb+ male with a gun and be murdered by that person and no one so much as collects the killer’s clothing or spends more than 10 minutes finding out the details has kept me up nights and made me cry more in the past couple weeks than I have in the past few years. It’s hard to write about anything, even to celebrate the new deals of guys who have worked their asses off to get them, when life feels so much less valuable than it did before I found out this child was killed on the street.

[Read: What everyone should know about the Trayvon Martin shooting]

[Read: The Trayvon Martin killing, explained]

Blogging on sports will resume tomorrow.

Safety is important, but the real concern for Peyton Manning is how well he can do this.

From the Indy Star:

Fans hear the words “neck fusion” and wonder why Peyton Manning is even considering playing again, fearful he’ll risk a career-ending injury — or worse — the next time he takes a hit.

But safety isn’t Manning’s issue, several spine specialists said. Arm strength is.

Manning’s surgically repaired neck will be able to take a hit just fine once the fusion is healed, with the bone actually stronger than others in his neck. Nerves are delicate, however, and only time will tell if they’ll recover enough for the 35-year-old four-time NFL MVP to be the quarterback he once was.

“His risk really is very low,” said Dr. Robert S. Bray Jr., who has worked with NHL star Sidney Crosby and whose DISC Sports & Spine Center provides medical services for the U.S. Olympic team.

“If I was a team, I’d ask, ‘Did (the fusion) heal? Do you have a CAT scan that showed it healed? Is the rest of neck in pretty good shape?”‘ Bray asked. “If those two answers are yes, then it gets down to, ‘OK, get out on the field and show me you can perform,’ because it will only get better from here with time.”

I think this sums up the issue nicely and also reiterates the risk teams are taking when they pursue Manning. The fused bones are not the problem, it’s whether or not the nerves will heal enough for Manning’s strength to return (and in a timely manner). And that’s something that no can predict. The safety part of this is definitely important but now I’m thinking we spent so much time wondering if he’d be paralyzed on the field we forgot to wonder about pure ability.

[To read the rest of this post click the "Read More" tab below]

(more…)