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Look Who’s Talking Now
If you like “A 6-5, 230 pound quarterback, with a laser rocket arm” maybe Peyton Manning isn’t for you…
Football scenery in Indianapolis has shifted into the apocalyptic over the past two year. The Indianapolis Colts finished the NFL season with an overall 2-14 record; giving them the proud ownership of the 1st overall pick in the NFL Draft. And it just so happens that Andrew Luck, college football’s most highly touted quarterback prospect since (Indy’s own) QB Peyton Manning, will be foregoing his senior season at Stanford, and entering the 2012 draft.
This unique situation wouldn’t be tracking proverbial substance across the ground if Manning hadn’t sustained a severe neck injury that caused him to miss the entire 2011-2012 season, and is currently putting the future of his playing career in doubt. A $28 million contract option bonus due from the Colts to Manning on March 8th would give the Colts financial justification to part ways with the QB. And the strategic advantage of drafting the young Andrew Luck could make the ”rebuilding” phase of the talent-ridden franchise all the more smooth. (Let’s be honest, all the prime-time Colt’s games last year we’re not fun to watch). Read More >>
The Visible Spectrum
… Another year, another championship featuring a team from New York or Boston. Some years, if we’re lucky though, us spectators get the special benefit of watching two of America’s largest sport markets duke it out in the same championship game. When the right side of this coin flips, this media Supernova can leave us sport’s fans outside the market left behind in the massive glare of the oncoming media onslaught. Outside of the happenings of Upper East Side of the United States, time begins to crawl, in a unobservable manner where our attention slowly, but forcibly, approaches the day of the game. Minor news regarding team’s organizations, player’s injuries, fan reaction and strategic speculation may seem to stretch on for days. From their perspective, everything outside of their market’s big game comes to a stand-still, no passing news surrounding buzzer beaters, college upsets and player trades and signings can penetrate through the realms of their metropolitan pride. When these media Supernovas happen, we’re all subject to a cosmic censorship of the sport. Read More >>
NFL’s Con-fessional Bowl
Let me give you a scenario, and you can tell me if it seems like something you’d enjoy watching. The scenario involves a group of athletes voted to play in an all-star game. Fans have a certain number of votes per each position, and may cast an unlimited number of ballots - representing what is supposed to be 1/3 of the total vote for athletes. These athletes that eventually get voted in get to travel, usually with their family’s, to Honolulu, HI a week before the all-star game. Keep in mind these athletes are still recovering from a full 16 game season of hitting, tackling, lifting and rehabbing. The athletes will get to lounge around in 80-90 degree weather, practice a little bit with their fellow conference all-stars, play pranks on each other, converse, surf, and talk about who is going to win their sport’s champ
ionship the next week. Doesn’t sound half bad for the athletes, does it?
This scenario I’m describing is the NFL Pro Bowl, a game held (as of the past few years) a week before the Super Bowl. It is the only major sports all-star game that garners lower T.V. ratings than its regular season games. Players are voted in based on what could essentially be equated to a popularity contest. Coaches for each conference are automatically selected from the teams that lost the NFC and AFC title games, coaching teams, with usually, a good percentage of players opting out of the game for various reason, some related to injuries sustained during the regular season, some because their respective team is the one playing in the Super Bowl the following week… And if you’re Randy Moss, back before the game was held after the Super Bowl, you’ll opt out of playing, cause the week before your New England Patriots ended up losing the Super Bowl. Hawaii was just not motivating enough.
Worst Jersey Ever..? Do You Think You Could Do Better?
To be honest, when I think of the pioneering of sports jersey’s, I don’t think of the 500 different helmet, jersey and pants bottom combinations Nike has branded against Oregon Ducks. I do though get mixed feelings when I see the throwback uniforms the Memphis Grizzlies sported against the Clippers last Thursday (pictured on the right). 
The Grizzlies’ retro jersey’s, and the game against the Clippers, was to be a sentiment to the old American Basketball Assosiation, 1967-1976, a “lively” league famous for its prominent red, white and blue basketball, entertaining (.. although unconventional) half-time promotions and the adoption of a three-point shot; advertised as the “home run” of basketball. If you’ve ever seen the movie, Semi-Pro, then know Will Ferrell and the Flint Michigan Tropics weren’t far from what the ABA was at the time. The league was successful enough though that Four of ABA teams eventually were adopted into the NBA: the Indiana Pacers, San Antonio Spurs, Denver Nuggets and New Jersey Nets. Thursday was to be allusion to a rematch of the old Los Angeles Stars and Memphis Pros/Tams/Sounds; and yes, Memphis did change their team name 3 times in 5 years. Read More >>
Super Bowl Sunday!!!
It’s 2007 all over again. As with that year, the New York Giants and New England Patriots will meet for the NFL championship. To start the two weeks of preparation, start with comparisons of the team. And then find out who we see winning the title game.
A head-to-head breakdown of NFL Super Bowl XLVI, to be played Feb. 5 at Indianapolis:
Offenses
The Patriots were second in total offense at 428 yards per game and third in scoring offense (at 32.1 points per game. The Giants weren’t too shabby either, finishing eighth (385.1) and ninth (24.6) in those categories, respectively. Tom Brady maintained his status as an elite passer, and his counterpart, Eli Manning joined him in that echelon with his best career season.
Each QB has two prolific targets. Brady’s steady playmakers work the inside, tight end Rob Gronkowski and wide receiver Wes Welker. Manning relies on starting wide receivers Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz to stretch the field and make big gains.
The difference comes in the supporting cast.
Where’s the respect!?
So who are the real heroes from this past holiday weekend of NFL play? Not so much Tim Tebow or Arian Foster or the Harbaugh brothers.
Try Plaxico Burress and Evan Dietrich-Smith.
Those two were the targets of the biggest, most tasteless public displays of disrespect on an NFL field in recent memory—and they each handled the acts with more grace than the perpetrators deserved.
You’d think that a grown man who plays this sport for a living would not have to be reminded that dribbling another man’s head on the turf and stomping on his arm crosses the line. Or that making fun of someone getting shot and going to prison is in the same category.
But you’d be wrong, because the Lions’ Ndamukong Suh and the Bills’ Stevie Johnson, respectively, weren’t aware of this before the weekend’s games.
So off they went, Suh losing all of his composure on Thanksgiving Day against the Packers, and Johnson losing any aura of maturity Sunday afternoon against the Jets.
But they did worse than just make fools of themselves—especially after, naturally, their teams lost. They violated what once was a serious, if not sacred, code among players: play hard, play to win, play all-out, but don’t threaten another player’s livelihood. Respect another combatant in battle (and knowing what we know now about the long-term effects of this game, that’s no longer too harsh a characterization) as you’d want that combatant to respect you. As players whose chosen profession exacts a terrifying toll, they’re all in this together.
Happy Har-Bowl-Giving
For the moment the plan is to make a quick appearance, take some pictures and shake some hands, and then scurry to a place where the television cameras can’t possibly get close enough to capture human emotion.
Of course, plans in the Harbaugh family have been known to go awry, particularly during the Thanksgiving holiday when football has always – always – trumped all. There were many a turkey dinner when one of the boys would call dibs on the wishbone and the other would snatch it, or one would insist on licking the last drop of creamed corn from the bowl and the other would steal it away, and about the only thing that could quiet the ruckus was a game of catch on the outside lawn in NFL Gear.
“Eating was always a competitive sport. Fun, messy, loud—I’m sure you can imagine. Our Thanksgivings were probably like every American household when the kids were growing up, with everyone eating until they’re stuffed and the night ending with football, either watching or playing it in our favorite NFL Gear from Onthefield.com,” Jackie Harbaugh was saying earlier this week.
The basics haven’t changed—there will be a roasted bird, a pigskin, some squabbles—but never has a Harbaugh Thanksgiving featured trimmings quite like this. Because as anyone worth their Madden NFL 12 surely knows, history will be made Thursday night when John and Jim Harbaugh become the first brothers to face each other as NFL head coaches.
— No turkeys on the field this Thanksgiving: Check Thursday’s NFL previews: Green Bay Packers at Detroit Lions, 12:30 p.m. ET | Miami Dolphins at Dallas Cowboys, 4:15 p.m. ET | San Francisco 49ers at Baltimore Ravens, 8:20 p.m. ET
Miami Vice
What’s at stake
Tom Brady and the New England Patriots open up their NFL regular-season opener at Miami. (AP Photo)
The Jets and Bills opened Sunday with victories, meaning the loser of MNF’s early game (7 p.m. ET kickoff) starts the season in an early division hole. On paper, this one shouldn’t be close but Bill Belichick is a mortal 5-6 at Miami as the Patriots head coach. Also, the Dolphins’ strength is on defense, where CB Vontae Davis proclaimed this offseason that Miami boasts the best cover tandem in the NFL with fellow corner Sean Smith. Outside linebacker Cameron Wake, third last year in the NFL with 14 sacks, will get a chance to exploit Patriots rookie Nate Solder, who gets the start in place of injured right tackle Sebastian Vollmer.
“It’s a dangerous group,” Patriots QB Tom Brady said. “They’re experienced in the secondary. They’ve been playing together now for a little while and they’re very good, especially when the pass rush gets going.” It likely adds up to a puncher’s chance for the Dolphins, who have much more to prove than their opponent.
Critical NFL matchup
Dolphins running game vs. Patriots defensive line. Belichick re-made his defense by installing a hybrid scheme (sometimes 3-4, sometimes 4-3) and loading up with veteran players along the front. Albert Haynesworth, acquired to wreak havoc in opposing backfields, is already questionable due to illness. The Dolphins went looking for a more explosive running game with Reggie Bush and second-round pick Daniel Thomas replacing Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams. Thomas is questionable with a hamstring injury, leaving Larry Johnson and Lex Hilliard as support for Bush.
It’s Make or Break time for these high draft picks: See where Seahawks Aaron Curry stacks up
Collectively, the top 10 picks in the 2009 NFL Draft have had a middling first two seasons. If you were grading them as a group on a 1 to 10 scale, you’d have to give it a three.
Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez (fifth overall pick), Jaguars offensive tackle Eugene Monroe (eighth) and Packers defensive lineman B.J. Raji (ninth) have been starters who have contributed significantly for their teams. Lions quarterback Matt Stafford and Rams offensive tackle Jason Smith, the first and second picks, have to prove they can stay healthy before they can be fully evaluated.
The other five NFL players? It would be premature to call them busts, but so far they have been conspicuous by their underwhelming performances.
This will be their third NFL seasons. It’s time for these guys to step it up.
Tyson Jackson, DE, Chiefs (third pick)
The past: Jackson started 14 games as a rookie but suffered a knee injury in the season opener last year. By the time he returned, Shaun Smith was playing on run downs and Wallace Gilberry was lining up in passing situations.
The present: Jackson started at left end in the preseason but didn’t show signs he will be a big impact player this season. The problem is, there’s no one behind Jackson pushing him.
Jackson says: “I have to step up big this year, which I’m pretty sure I will do. Stopping the run, put pressure on passing — I mean, everything.”
Aaron Curry, LB, Seahawks (fourth)
NFL Blame: Players
As the NFL‘s lockout calendar draws increasingly near, negotiations between the Players Association and the owners is already becoming too complicated for the average fan to follow.
Yesterday, brought news that the owners filed a complaint with the NLRB claiming that the Players Association was engaging in unfair bargaining practices. As part of that complaint, the NFL cited the player union’s threat to decertify in the event the owners lock out the players.
The decertification by the NFLPA would mean the NFL would be in danger of antitrust charges because Collective Bargaining Agreements countenance some forms of antitrust activity, the antitrust exemption, so long as that antitrust activity is bargained for by two parties acting in good faith. Remove that exemption and the NFL could face serious issues when 32 teams are acting in concert with one another.
Is your head spinning from that information?
I know it is.
And things are only going to get more complicated from here. That means that fans, who just want the damn games played, are going to tune out the day-to-day babble surrounding the negotiations.
The Other Side
We expect players to act like inmates. The owners of the asylum are supposed to take the high road, only they seem to have lost the map.
– David Whitley on why the owners are at fault in the NFL labor dispute
Those details will be significant to a tiny minority of the overall fan base. And the information, misinformation, accusations and counter-accusations are going to be flying so fast and furious from both sides that you’ll need a law degree and 20 years of labor relations practice under your belt, to actually be able to parse the significant information. Nope, instead of enmeshing themselves in the details the fans are going to blame someone if come September there are no games.
And I’ll tell you who eventually is going to end up being blamed for the impasse by the vast majority of fans — the players.
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