Showing posts with label New York Jets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New York Jets. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Linktastic!

First of all, something that is not annoying: a blog written by Tony Barnhart. You may recognize Barnhart from his role as sometime-studio-analyst/sometime-man-on-the-field reporter from CBS's college football coverage. (He's the white guy with dark hair and a real thick accent.) It turns out he has A) a Twitter account (@MrCFB) B) a weekly TV show on CBS College Sports (which is one of the first shows I've gotten attached to since getting cable last week) and C) a blog on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. I like them all, so I want to link you to today's blog entry. My favorite point is where he gives props to Duke for keeping their game with Alabama at home, instead of going to a "neutral" site, where they'd get more cash but also many more 'Bama fans.

Now for one of this week's most annoying sports stories: not Reggie Bush vacating his Heisman, but the idea that Bush's Heisman to Vince Young. The only reason some sportswriters are yelling for that to happen is because they regret that they voted for Bush in the first place, when Vince Young owned him in the national championship after the award was given. Shut up, sportswriters. You don't get to use this as an excuse for a do-over. These points and many other good ones are made by "Dr. Saturday" in "Vince Young won't get Reggie Bush's Heisman, thank god". One last thing about this issue: it has always driven my dad crazy when sportscasters refer to "former Heisman trophy winners," because anyone who has won the Heisman trophy is still a Heisman trophy winner. But now, at least when people refer to Reggie Bush, "former Heisman trophy winner" will make logical sense. Hooray?

In a tie for this week's most annoying sports story is the thing about how a female TV reporter was (maybe) harrassed (for an unidentified value of harrassed) by Jets players in the Jets' locker room. This has turned into a whole deal about well, did she deserve it because she dresses scantily (it sounds like she was wearing a tight shirt and jeans, which doesn't sound professional, but doesn't sound pole-ready either), or should there even be female reporters in the locker room, and blah blah blah. Since she's not even formally complaining, it's all a mountain being made from a molehill. That's why I liked this article about what reporting from a locker room is actually like. To summarize: not sexy.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

NFL: Week 1

Hilarious:
The Cowboys losing! And it was embarassing too. It wasn't like the Redskins' offense was good--it wasn't--or that their defense was awesome--it wasn't--or even that Tony Romo single-handedly ruined everything--which has its upside, but frankly has happened so often that it's started to get a little sad. No, Dallas's offense as a whole just kept screwing stuff up. The egregious holding call that wiped the game-winning touchdown off the board has gotten the most attention, but that was really just emblematic of the whole game.

Not Hilarious:
The Lions losing. All the media and internet attention has been focused on Calvin Johnson's controversial non-TD catch at the end of the game, and that was sad. (I would really like my moment of celebration back, please.) Even if he had plain old dropped the ball, though, it still would have been depressing for a team that hasn't won on the road in years to lose a game their defense hung on to so doggedly for so long. And the saddest thing of all is losing Matthew Stafford, again, for who knows how long. And with three injuries in his first 17 games, I think it's time to start worrying about his career. I just wish something would go right for the Lions.

Hilarious:
Philip Rivers throwing a hissy at New Arrowhead in the rain. I know this video will be taken down soon, but it's too perfect:



Not Hilarious:
The Triumphant (?) Return of Michael Vick/the Non-Triumphant Debut of Kevin Kolb. Check out this anti-hilarious series of events:
  • Despite having a promising young quarterback for whom he ditched Donovan McNabb, Andy Reid starts the game Kolb and Vick frequently, allowing neither one to get into a rhythm.
  • Either because of the rhythm thing or because he's just not ready for the big stage, the vaunted Kolb looks like a deer in the headlights, and passes like one too.
  • Clay Mathews slams Kolb into the ground face-first. He leaves the game, and it turns out he's concussed. (Note: Clay Mathews is awesome and was just doing his job. It's a just a shame that Kolb's arms weren't free to cushion his face.)
  • The odious Michael Vick becomes the unquestioned leader of the team, and does not-totally-awful, setting up what is sure to be an endless and annoying QB debate.
Don't get me wrong, I'm happy the Packers won (for the first time in Philadelphia since 1962), but it would have been nice if they'd done it by being the better team instead of the less-bad team.

Hilarious:
The total offensive ineptitude of the massively overhyped Jets. At the end of last season, I kind of liked the Jets. They have a big ol' loudmouth coach, which is a dying breed, and I felt Mark Sanchez redeemed his lousy regular season performance with a solid playoff run. But this summer, it was too much Jets, all the time. So I was pretty satisfied that they couldn't make anything happen in their game last night. (Their defense still looks fairly scary, though.) The only downside is that they got put in their place by the Ravens, who aren't super likable either.

Less Hilarious Than I Would Have Thought:
The decline of Brett Favre. I am a decided Brett Favre un-fan, but the realization that it's going to be a long and painful season for the Vikings and Favre in particular has not brought me the schadenfreude I would have expected. Don't get me wrong; I want the Vikings to lose a lot of games. It's just that Favre is already in a bad way physically, and because of his iron man streak, he's never going to take a week or two off to heal. He's going to play until he literally can't anymore, and I just worry it's all going to end with him not just too injured for football, but too injured for aspects of real life.


And that was Week 1! What did you all find hilarious or not hilarious?

Monday, August 23, 2010

Linktastic!

A writer at the Washington Post just rips Albert Haynesworth a new one. Even better, she contrasts Haynesworth's wussy prima-doninity with Mike Shanahan's total awesomeness. Did you know that once, Mike Shanahan was so determined to keep playing a football game that he almost died? Like, was given his last rites almost-died. This article is fantastic.

Tom Brady hates the Jets. I think that's great. Fans hate their rival teams, why shouldn't players? In this day and age, I find it downright heartwarming.

Video: A couple SI writers who are not very comfortable on camera discuss how good Oklahoma will be this year. Uncomfortable guy on the left, Andy Staples, is the only sportswriter I've seen who expresses my opinion: that it doesn't make sense that Oklahoma (or texas, for that matter) is ranked so high in the preseason polls.