January 2012 Archive

On February 14th also known as VALENTINES DAY (oo la la) you can catch former Atlanta Falcons running back Jamal Anderson on Shop NBC talking Imperious’  impressive collection of watches. Jamal is the company’s new Brand Ambassador, so look out for the ads and commercials, they should be coming soon. I talked to Jamal and he’s really excited about his relationship with the company, and as usual, I expect great things from him. I think Imperious made a great choice for a spokesperson.

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Mathias Kiwanuka is one of my favorite players. He's also one of the quietest players in the league it seems.

I wrote about my desire to see the Ravens and 49ers in the Super Bowl previously. When both teams lost in their Chip games, I fully expected to still be excited for Super Bowl in some manner. Unfortunately, I’m not. The thrill is gone. I definitely think the game will be good…from a footall perspective there should be fireworks. But when it comes to the build up…even the media is having difficultly making the lead-up to Super Bowl interesting.

They’ve explored every storyline from 2008 from how many players on each current team were also on the 2008 teams to interviewing some of those players to get their feelings on the rematch. Many of the headlines have to do with the Patriots “avenging” their loss, but there really is no such thing. If the Patriots win this year, they still got beat before. Avenging losses is more an elimination game  sentiment to me, not a playing-for-the-whole shebang sort of deal. They’re also playing up the “Myra Kraft” angle to varying success and ratcheting up the “pressure” storyline for Tom Brady and the will-he-or-won’t-he-be-effective narrative for Super Tight End Rob Gronkowski.

The ZZZZZs keep coming.

Seeing how dry the lead up has been so far makes me even more annoyed that we’re missing out on all the great stories from the Ravens. Stories on Ray Rice, Haloti Ngata and Terrell Suggs. More on Vernon Davis  and David Akers as well as the re-emergence of Carlos Rogers, Justin Smith and, well, hell, an entire franchise. There was gold in them there football hills and we are missing it all by being in the midst of a well-worn rehash.

I did some perusing around the web of Media Week 1 and here are the best stories I could find. They’re not all that mind-blowing but I read them all and found them at least mildly interesting.

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I really thought that one day Chuck Pagano and Ed Reed's grey patch would be Eagles coaches. I hate the Colts now!

So I blogged earlier this week about Peyton Manning and his comments on the Colts. His comments were rather innocuous for someone who is contractually obligated to an organization that is firing folks left and right (and giving every signal that he’s next on the chopping block). Apparently Colts owner Jim Irsay didn’t like Manning’s comments and felt he should have kept any conversations about the team in-house. He also referred to Manning as a politician which, given the current political climate, is like accusing Manning of being a big old liar with no principles and no couth.

That’s beyond a low blow.

The first thing I thought when I heard Irsay’s comments was…I wonder if Jim Irsay thinks he can turn ANYONE ANYWHERE against Peyton Manning? If so…AHAHHAHAH HAHAHAHHA.

The second thing I thought is why would Irsay try to turn public opinion away from Manning when public opinion is already on the Colts’ side? People already understand that Manning got away with a a little bit of high way robbery being payed millions upon millions of dollars this year just to make Manningface on the sidelines. People also understand that though Manning is in a class of his own, he’s 36, has a wobbly neck and organizations have the right to move on. It’s a hard pill to swallow when you’re dealing with someone with the level of class and talent Manning has, but the public has been rational on this.

Further, a lot of athletes in Manning’s position would have been out there telling folks what the team needed to do during the season—especially someone who helped make the Colts as valuable as they are and especially in a time when the players played like crap. But Manning didn’t do that. In fact, not only did he not bash the Colts, he didn’t even seek the spotlight. Beyond an occasional interview on his medical progress, Manning has been largely silent and hasn’t drawn any unneeded attention to the Colts’ disastrous season.

I don’t know why Irsay was offended by Manning’s comments especially when he had a point of saying on twitter that he had no regrets about paying Manning to do nothing this year. If you’re over it, stay over it.

In an effort not to put together two fairly uninteresting posts on the Colts in a row, I’m combining this one with my thoughts on Pagano.

I’ve always wondered how people grow to irrationally hate a team, and now I know.

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It took a little while for the GQ profile on Terrell Owens to catch fire, but now it’s all over the blogosphere and everyone knows that Owens is broke, lonely, and without direction. But one thing you can’t say about Owens it that he spent all his money on houses, cars and shiny jewelry. That’s simply not the case.

I’ve started to answer reader questions on my vlog (which will soon be moving off You Tube and on to this site) and one of the questions I got was about whether I thought that the trend of athletes going broke would end and if white players were as guilty of overspending as black players.

You can see my video answer here:

To answer the question I chose to take the focus off of houses, cars, clothes and jewelry. Partly because we all (Americans, in general) overspend on things like that. We just can’t do it at the same scale as athletes. Plus if you buy houses, cars, clothes and jewelry you can often later get a percentage (albeit small) of that money back by selling those items. They’re dumb purchases but they’re not always total losses.

What is a total loss? Bad investments, loans to family members, child support and alimony/divorce settlements!

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Everyone, including me, is guessing about Manning's future and Colts owner Jim Irsay's intentions.

Monday night,  Peyton Manning sat down for a pretty candid interview with the Indy Star. In the interview he said quite a few things of note, including the fact that he doesn’t really have a relationship with the Colts new GM and that any decisions about his future and any communication with him about his future would come from owner Jim Irsay. But Irsay and Manning haven’t talked beyond Irsay offering to help Manning in his efforts to find rooms and other amenities for his family during Super Bowl.

Manning also discussed the different atmosphere in the Colts facilities. An atmosphere where folks are walking on “eggshells” and don’t know what will happen next. To catch up any who is late: The Colts are in the midst of cleaning house and starting over. And such is the atmosphere at places where lots of changes are being made and no one has real feel for the man in charge. The only thing that is clear at this point is that for all intents and purposes Manning is no different from any other player and he acknowledges this directly:

“I mean, it’s 20 degrees, it’s snowing, the building is absolutely empty except when you see coaches cleaning out their offices,” he said. “I guess it’s the reality of the football world, just not something I’ve had to deal with very often. But I’m in there every day, so I have to sit there and see it. Everybody’s being evaluated and I’m no different. It’s not the best environment.

“I just want to pay tribute to all those guys. It’s unfortunate because so many of them have been such a big part of so many big wins here, and this is so … sudden. Their keys didn’t work the next day. There’s no other way to do it? I don’t know. That’s hard to see, all these people leaving.

“And I may be behind them. Who knows?”

The question was posed: Given all the changes, the fact the Colts appear to be in a rebuilding mode, does Manning even want to come back to Indianapolis?

“I don’t want to get into some kind of fan campaign with the owner, but I think it’s well documented that I want to play in the same place my whole career,” Manning said. “It’s been a privilege to play here. I love the fans, the city, the transformation of the fans, how our place has become the toughest stadium to play in, the fact our fans wear more jerseys to games than anybody else. It’s been fun to be a part of that.

It feels like saying Manning is done in Indy isn’t a bold prediction. Guessing where he ends up IS bold… unless you’re Rob Lowe or somebody. For Manning’s part he says he hasn’t decided to retire just yet. So get ready for at least another month and a half of writers writing ” should X team pursue Manning” or “X team IS interested in Manning.” By the time it’s said and done Manning’s Decision may be more painful for the public than Lebron’s.

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