Super Bowl XLV – An Anti-Steelers Preview

I think the title says it all but I really hate the Pittsburgh Steelers. This post will be totally biased in favor of the Green Bay Packers and I don’t even really like the Green Bay Packers. Being a Browns fan hasn’t given me very many great memories, especially lately. The Brian Sipe/Bernie Kosar era is long gong and that one good Tim Couch season seems so long ago. The one thing that has brought me joy during those miserable seasons is hating on the Steelers.

Who's with me?

The Packers are a 3 point favorite going into the game, which makes it easier for me to spew pro-Green Bay rhetoric without looking like (much of) a fool. To be honest, this game looks like it will be a good one. Both teams are hot but Green Bay looks to have the most momentum coming in. Before I break down the game I’ll give you the particulars.

Super Bowl XLV will be played in Cowboys Stadium and kickoff should be somewhere around 6:25 pm EST. There will be like 10,000 hours of coverage devoted to the game, not including the all day pre-game show and yukfest on FOX and ESPN. The game will be on FOX and your broadcasters will be the loathsome Joe Buck and the knowledgable Troy Aikman. Pam Oliver and Chris Myers will be bringing you speculation and rumors from the sidelines. In the studio, the FOX team will be Curt Menefee, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Jimmy Johnson and Michael Strahan. They most likely won’t give you anything concrete but be somewhere near the truth so that they can boast right after the final whistle has blown. Odds are that Howie Long will be the most serious person on the show but then you remember that he made Firestorm and he’s pretty hard to take seriously.

Yes, this happened

This will be Pittsburgh’s eighth Super Bowl and their third in the last six years. They’ve won six of the seven they’ve already played. The Steelers won the AFC North and had a bye in the opening round of the playoffs. In the Divisional round they faced the Baltimore Ravens and dominated them defensively but still needed a late touchdown to win 23-24. The Steelers D held the Ravens to 126 total yards on offense and were down 21-7 at the half. The offense lost two fumbles and one of them was returned for a touchdown. In the AFC Championship game they beat the surprising Jets 24-19. The game wasn’t really that close. The Steelers led 24-0 with 1:09 left in the 2nd quarter. Roethlisberger didn’t look sharp, throwing 2 interceptions. It helps when the “brilliant” Rex Ryan punts with 1:43 to go in the game from the Pittsburgh 44 yard line. Did the Jets really think they were getting the ball back with that little time?

This will be the fifth Super Bowl for Green Bay. They’ve won three of the four they’ve played in. The Packers beat Chicago 10-3 in the final game of the season to earn a Wild Card birth. They pretty much handled Philadelphia in the opening round of the playoffs with Aaron Rodgers tossing 3 TD’s at Lincoln Financial Field. In the second round, Green Bay travelled to Atlanta and pretty much OWNED them after the first ten minutes of the game. Against the Falcons, Rodgers threw three more TD’s and ran for another. The Packers didn’t punt in that game. In the NFC Championship, Green bay beat Chicago in Soldier Field 21-14. This time Aaron Rodgers didn’t throw any touchdowns and was picked off twice. Not a very Aaron Rodgers postseason performance.

Aaron Rodgers is the best quarterback in the postseason. The stats don’t lie. Who has thrown for more yards than Rodgers this postseason? Nobody. I know Rodgers has played in one more game but his 263.3 yards per game average is 84 yards more than Roethlisberger’s. Rodgers’ QB rating is 109.2, the highest in the postseason, compared to 75.5 for Big Ben. Rodgers has six touchdown passes, one rushing touchdown and only two interceptions. Roethlisberger has two touchdown passes, one rushing touchdown and two interceptions. Aaron Rodgers has also completed fifteen passes of 20+ yards compared to four for Roethlisberger. I know Ben Roethlisberger is mobile but so is Rodgers. Look at the game against the Falcons. They had his sacked at least ten times in that game and he was able to get away and make a positive play. Sure, Ben Roethlisberger is 2-0 in Super Bowls but Rodgers is the hotter quarterback coming in.

Rodgers is on fire

The Steelers look to have the better running game but Pittsburgh only holds a half a yard advantage per game. Both have four touchdowns but Pittsburgh has fumbled three times compared to two for Green Bay. The Steelers have the best defense in the league but are giving up 21.5 points per game this postseason compared to 17 for the Packers. Don’t forget, Green Bay played all three of their playoff games on the road. The Steelers have the best rushing defense but the Packers are second. These teams are so close in many stats so look for this to be a pretty good game

This game will come down to who takes advantage of their opportunities and makes fewer mistakes. The Green Bay Packers have shown that they can convert on third-downs and make the most of their red zone opportunities. Green Bay is just too hot right now. This team seems to be doing whatever they want on offense and Tramon Williams is quickly moving up the ladder of being a great cornerback in the league.

Rodgers needs this

I don’t think we understand how much Aaron Rodgers wants to win this game. I mean every football player wants to win the Super Bowl but it would be huge for Aaron Rodgers to have a Super Bowl ring. He can start coming out of the shadow of Brett Favre. He’s only 27, the same age as Brett Favre when he won Super Bowl XXXII. Plus, Green Bay would be vindicated for choosing Rodgers over an aging Brett Favre three seasons ago. Rodgers can own this town with a win and, who knows, even surpass Favre if he’s able to get multiple Super Bowl rings. Don’t tell me Green Bay GM Ted Thompson doesn’t want this badly either. You just know he wants to stick it to Favre because Favre’s been trying to stick it to the organization and especially Ted Thompson since he left. After seeing Favre’s act over the past three seasons, I’m looking forward to Green Bay getting over on him too.

Another reason I want the Steelers to lose is because I hate Ben Roethlisberger. I hated him even before everyone found out how much of a douche he was. I hated Roethlisberger before hating Roethlisberger was cool. I can’t bear to see Roethlisberger winning another ring. I know one thing, Ben Roethlisberger clone, Chase Daniel will be watching this game with a chubby. Chase Daniel is not really relevant to this Super Bowl discussion but I just like mentioning him whenever Roethlisberger is involved. Remember how hard Daniel’s tried to look and act like Roethlisberger while at Missouri? It was actually quite embarrassing watching him with  Ben’s facial hair, Ben’s wristbands, Ben’s eye black, Ben’s wristbands, Ben’s mannerisms at the line and so on. Another reason to mention Chase Daniel is to mention how much I hate Missouri. Not just the college but the state as a whole. C’mon people, if Missouri failed to exist in the morning would we really miss it?

Douche

Lea Michele of Glee fame will sing America the Beautiful during pre-game festivities and Christina Aguilera will sing the national anthem. I didn’t realize Christina Aguilera was relevant enough to merit the singing of the national anthem. Being a native of Pennsylvania probably didn’t hurt her cause. The Black Eyed Peas will perform at halftime…errrr…..at the Bridgestone Halftime Show. Does anyone really like the Black Eyed Peas? I don’t think a single one of my friends has ever mentioned liking or disliking the Black Eyed Peas. Is it just me or does it seem that the halftime entertainment is always someone past their prime or someone you wouldn’t expect to be performing at the halftime show? The Black Eyed Peas are never ones to shy away from being on TV. I think I’ve seen them on various worldwide shows, kicking off something like the World Cup or Oprah’s visit to Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Almost every time I’ve seen them at some live event, they seem to perform My Humps. I think they have more songs than that but they continue to trot out that ridiculous song every time they need people to remember who they are. Something tells me that My Humps won’t be played at something as family friendly as the Super Bowl. Remember when Prince got in trouble for playing his guitar behind the curtain?

Rachel from Glee

My prediction: Green Bay 30 – Pittsburgh 20

I’m not telling you to bet the house or anything like that. This is coming from my gut. If you’re into placing a little friendly wager, go to covers.com to get all of you information. Enjoy the Super Bowl, even if you have to listen to Joe Buck.

Someone Please Tell Antonio Cromartie And The Jets To Shut Up

Antonio Cromartie decided to call out Tom Brady this week. Smart move. It’s always a good idea to call out the league’s best quarterback on the league’s best team right before you have to travel to their stadium in a pivotal playoff game. The Patriots are a 9.5 point favorite in that game in case you care about those kind of things.

Why would you want to make this guy angry?

Before I go any further I must tell you that I am biased towards Tom Brady. I professed my man-love for him in this post. Let’s be clear, I’m not solely writing this because I have a man crush on Tom Brady, I’m writing this because the Jets talking is getting on my nerves. It just so happens that the Patriots are the target for the Jets jibes.

Why would Cromartie run his mouth? I forgot, he plays for the Jets and they like to talk and talk and talk, just look at who their coach is. Rex Ryan said this game is personal. What does this mean? Forget about Ryan. Cromartie thought it would be a good idea to call Tom Brady an asshole. Cromartie felt he needed to call out Brady because Brady allegedly taunted the Jets late in their 45-3 loss to the Patriots back in December. Boo hoo! Here’s the proof (what’s the big deal?). The ever-classy Tom Brady responded to Cromartie by saying, “Not everybody has great things to say about our team or organization or certain players. That’s kind of the way it’s always been. We’re just going to do our talking on the field. That’s the way we’ve always chosen to do it.” Exactly! Let your play do the talking.

So am I supposed to believe that Antonio Cromartie or the Jets never taunt on the field? The team with the biggest mouth, the Jets, are angry that got shown up by Tom Brady on the Pats. You know how you stop Brady from allegedly taunting you? Cover a damn receiver and don’t let him throw 4 TD’s against you.

Cromartie did a lot of chasing last week.

You’d think Antonio Cromartie wouldn’t want to bring attention to himself after the game he had against the Colts? Sure, he had that late kick return that set up the game winning field goal, and that was huge, but the rest of his game was forgettable. Pierre Garcon was Indy’s top receiver and guess who was covering him? I’ll give you one guess. Garcon had five catches for 112 yards in the game including a 57-yard touchdown in the second quarter. Reggie Wayne had one catch for one yard. Why is that? The Colts and Peyton Manning didn’t want anything to do with Darelle Revis. Indianapolis targeted Cromartie because they could.

The Patriots are going about their business and not playing this silly game. Bill Belichick told the Patriots players not to continue this Jets nonsense in the media. Smart. The Patriots are paying attention to what’s being said, that’s for sure, but they’re better than that to continue this war of words. Will these comments from the Jets and Cromartie fire up the Pats? I doubt it. I think they were already focused on the task at hand. It’ll just be sweeter if they can beat New York on Sunday.

Antonio Cromartie trying to remember the names of all his kids.

Was It Worth It Brett?

“Vanity keeps persons in favor with themselves who are out of favor with all others.” – William Shakespeare

Some time between last season and this season Brett Favre got old.  I’m sure he wasn’t expecting it but it happens to all of us.  Sure, he had probably his best season last year but he had to figure that wasn’t gonna last.  Why not go out on top.?  Looks like Favre came back one too many times.

Brett Favre 2009

336 of 531, 4,202 yds., 33 TD’s, 7 INT’s, 259 yds/game, 107.2 QB rating – Viking record 12-4

Brett Favre 2010

197 of 327, 2274 yds., 10 TD’s, 17 INT’s, 227 yds/game, 69.8 QB rating – Vikings record 3-7

Actually, even though he had a great season in 2009, Favre came back three too many times.  He should’ve called it quits after the 2007 season.  The Packers were so close to going to the Super Bowl.  Sure, his interception in the NFC Championship Game caused the Giants to win and eventually go on to beat the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII, but that wasn’t a bad season either.  The writing was on the wall that Green Bay wanted Aaron Rodgers to take over the team.  Favre should have stepped away a hero and beloved by all but instead he felt the need to get back at the Packers and try to prove them wrong.  Big mistake.

The Favre we all loved

Favre was and probably still is an icon in Green Bay but with every year he comes back and feels the need to stick it to the Packers, his star faded more and more.  Did we really need to see him in a Jets uniform?  I remember John Madden falling all over himself whenever he called Packer games with Favre at the helm.  This elevated Favre but probably led to the decline of Madden.  Madden went from the beloved announcer who made the game fun to the guy who didn’t hide his man crush of Favre.  Remember how we felt about John Madden in the 1990’s?  Remember what we thought about him when he walked away?

Will we remember this in 10 years?

Brett Favre was the player everyone wanted on their team.  You hated him when he played your team but you rooted for him otherwise.  Now, we can’t wait for him to go away.  His retirements and un-retirements have grown old, just like the man himself.  I guess I could stand it when he went to the Jets but when he had to be wooed out of retirement by the Vikings, that was too much.  Then after last season he let us know that he wasn’t sure if he was coming back only to come back part way through the pre-season.  Now he says he’s done after this season.  I’ll believe it when I see it.

Brad Childress was fired by the Viking today, as he should have been.  It seems Childress’ only real game plan was to have Favre on the team and to let him do whatever he wanted.  That didn’t end well.  Favre showed that by being able to miss camps and dictate whether his streak stays alive or not, that he was in charge and not Childress.  During the 31-3 pounding this weekend at the hands of Green Bay, Favre and offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell got into an argument which Favre wanted no part of.  Bevell was probably peeved that Favre pretty much locked on to his receiver right after the snap which allowed the Packers to step in front and get the INT.  Valid point by Bevell but Favre tried his hardest to get away from him and plead his case, even though he was totally in the wrong.

I’m not going to mention the whole Favre – Jenn Sterger dong photo drama.  Did it happen?  Probably.  Is it creepy?  Yes.  Does it lower our esteem for Favre?  Yes, but if he had stayed away, this would’ve never happened.  Who do you think you are, Keith Hernandez?

Please go away Brett.  Don’t wait until the end of the season, do it now.  Try to salvage some of the good memories we had of you.  Enjoy life on the ranch and don’t worry about being needed.

Too many of these moments this year

“I wanna be adored

You adore me

You adore me

You adore me

I wanna

I wanna

I wanna be adored”

– I Wanna Be Adored by The Stone Roses

NFL – Tom Brady: How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count The Ways.

Sometime between 1845 and 1846, Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote Sonnet 43 in which she opined: “How do I love thee?  Let me count the ways.”  The then Elizabeth Barrett wrote this during her courtship with poet and playwright, Robert Browning.  If she were around today, you could easily see her totally writing this for Tom Brady.

Let’s not pretend, as guys, we don’t have man crushes on athletes.  What’s a man crush?  Here’s what Urban Dictionary defines man crush as:

1. When a straight man has a “crush” on another man, not sexual but kind of idolizing him.
2. A man who has a crush on another man without sexual attraction.
3. A man having extreme admiration for another man, as though he wants to be him.

There are more definitions but these are the ones I’m thinking about.  If a dude reads this and still says that he’s never had a man crush on an athlete, bullshit!  We’ve all  been there.  I’ll tell you some of my man crushes later but now let’s talk about my current man crush, Tom Brady a.k.a. “White Jesus”.  Some of you might be shocked that I’m writing about something I actually like and not just Jersey Shore.  I don’t hate everything and everybody just most everything and everybody.

How do you not like this guy?

I don’t know what the phenomena is when someone is good that we have to instinctively not like him but it shouldn’t apply here.  Tom Brady was a good college player but not the greatest.  There wasn’t some huge hype leading up to the 2000 NFL Draft.  Brady was drafted 199th.  Here are some of the quarterbacks chosen before White Jesus:

• #183 – Spergon Wynn – Cleveland Browns
• #168 – Marc Bulger – New Orleans Saints
• #163 – Tee Martin – Pittsburgh
• #76 – Chris Redman – Baltimore Ravens
• #65 – Giovanni Comazzi – San Francisco 49ers
• #18 – Chad Pennington – New York Jets

I’m not saying any of these teams should have drafted Brady because he wasn’t a highly sought after commodity.  New England thought they could do something with him and it worked out.  I just wish my team, the Cleveland Browns, had the same forethought.  Too bad Chris Palmer was our coach back then and we all know he’s no Bill Belichick.

Tom Brady will go down as one of the best quarterbacks ever.  The best ever, no, but he will be among the best.  He has three Super Bowl Rings and two Super Bowl MVP’s.  Brady’s only 33 years old so who’s to say he doesn’t win another Super Bowl or two?  He just looks so comfortable on the field and makes it look so easily.  Let’s not forget how he OWNED Peyton Manning up until Manning won Super Bowl XLI.  Without Brady, Bill Simmons never coins the term, Manning Face.

No Brady, No Manning Face

This is why guys should all want to be like Tom Brady.  From 2004 to 2006 Brady dated Bridget Moynahan.  In 2006 while Moynahan was pregnant with his child, he broke off the relationship and immediately started dating Gisele Bundchen.  Not a bad one-two punch.  Brady and Bundchen are now married and have a child.  I’m not saying he was right to dump his pregnant girlfriend but rebounding from Bridget Moynahan with Gisele Bundchen is something we mere mortals could only dream of.  What guy wouldn’t want to be Tom Brady?

There's no wrong choice.

Yes, the haircut is a little silly but a guy like Tom Brady can pull that off.  The guy is cool as hell and, yes, he’s a handsome dude too.  There I said it.  There’s nothing wrong with saying another man is handsome.

Some of my other man crushes throughout the years:

• Joe Montana (always)
• Brady Quinn (at Notre Dame)
• Brent Barry (with the Clippers)
• Ed Cota (at North Carolina) , this still lingers
• Michael Schumacher (pre-comeback)
• Kirk Gibson (Detroit Tigers)
• Lou Whitaker (Detroit Tigers)
• Martin Palermo (Boca Juniors)
• Marco Van Basten (AC Milan)
• Gennaro Gattuso (AC Milan), current

Again, any guy who says he doesn’t have or has never had a man crush on an athlete is only lying to himself.

OK, maybe having Helen Mirren reciting the poem turned it a little bit gay.

 

What I Know: Football report with Homerism

Great Day to be a Chiefs Fan in Jorts

1) This is the year of the 68 passer rating. In the rain, the Chiefs hold on to beat the Chargers in the opening kick-off of the new Arrowhead Stadium, (some of you may ask:  What’s a new Arrowhead? It’s a knife so watch your back, I will now referred to it as such so not to deceive people who want to go, I mean the stadium is in Missouri.) Not only did Matt Cassel have a passer rating of 68- it was also the number of yards he threw for. This definitely did not look like the Charlie Weis offense we saw last year with Clausen gunning it around at Notre Dame, but this time his team won.  Yet beware Chuck being too cautious could lead to an embarrassing exit in Kansas City.  Romeo thanks for beefing up the KC defense, missed tackles and blown assignments have been a fixture for the past two and half seasons. Oh wait, there was still a former Boise State receiver left wide open for an easy touchdown that made all of us sweat. But too Romee’s credit the Chiefs held strong against two fourth down situations deep in KC territory.

# 23 in this weeks Bearded Guy Poll

2) FCS teams are not to be trifled with.  After victories at Ole Miss and Virginia Tech, many athletic directors will be looking at their match up this week and hope they can survive  their ‘cupcake’ before entering into Conference play.  It’s quiet apparent that North Dakota State should be in the top 25 despite their loss to Northern Iowa, based simply on the round-a-bout logic of Kansas losing to them (6-3) then Kansas Beating 15 Georgia Tech (28-25) and coming in with a 1-0 record.

So here’s The Bearded Guy’s first Edition  Top 25

1-6) Ohio St-Alabama-Boise-Oklahoma-TCU-Nebraska

7-10) Some really good teams and Florida

11) Northern Iowa 1-0, Key Win: NDSU

12-21) Some good teams and LSU

22) The Denard Robinson’s and 20+ practice hours

23) NDSU 1-1, Key Win: Kansas  Admirable Defeats: 11 Northern Iowa

24) Virginia Tech, 0-2, com’on they have really cool uniforms so they get to stay

25) Kansas 1-1, Key Win: Last weeks 15 GT  Admirable Defeat: NDSU, I mean seriously losing to a ranked team by a field goal can’t hurt you!

Wasn't playing Youngstown St. in Week 2

3) Time to be serious: I observed that freshmen are still freshmen: when you put them on the road week two at number one, they might figuratively crap themselves (See Penn State at Alabama). The score reflects total domination, not the two turnovers in the first half in the red-zone that killed the lions, but not Joe Paterno.

Grinnell 2-0 and Monmouth 0-2

4) Apparently preseason Division III rankings do not mean all that much, go figure. As my Alma Mater, preseason 240, decided they would play spoiler on the road against an opponent with post-season aspirations. Not only that, it was the 1000th game in the programs history and would have made the Monmouth head coach the winning-est coach in the program’s history. This was salt in the wound for Alex Taney who was injured on the first pass play of the game, turns out the offensive line might have been a little suspect. I hope he’s able to make it back for basketball season and he can make the trip to Darby. I remember him referring to our student section so lovingly. If you don’t get the references its Grinnell vs. Monmouth. Shout out to the  Grinnell student body for giving the pioneers a heroes welcome upon the teams arrival home.  I don’t think the Pioneers, not the ones who didn’t make it to the Mississippi River, are satisfied just with these two games but it’s a great start for Jeff Pedersen’s squad.

Week 1-2 High School Team of the Week

5) Gardner Edgerton is my high school team of the week.  2-0 and coached by my former high school coach, Marvin Diener, they lost in the state final last year to a loaded Hutchinson (KS) team. I don’t see Diener and a top prospect Bubba Starling (Real name, I promise) letting that happen again.

In jest, yet serious

The Bearded Guy

Call This Article Whatever You Want, As Long As You Don’t Call It Using Instant Replay

There have been an outrageous amount of horrible calls and missed calls throughout this World Cup, that have spurred renewed conversation of FIFA’s use of technology and instant replay during the World Cup. With most of the talk being motivated by horrible foul calls, I’m really hoping this doesn’t happen. I’m not against instant replay. I think it has its place in football (the American type) and basketball. And although I would agree with The Mark, who earlier wrote about his opposition to using replay in baseball (see Baseball Is Just Fine The Way It Is), I really don’t have a strong opposition to it in baseball, I would just like to keep the game as traditional as possible…but with the addition of steroids, the designated hitter, the wild card, and relief pitchers in the last half decade, I’m basically giving up my hopes on that. While I think instant replay may have a place in soccer, it’s a small place at best, and wouldn’t help right the foul calls that have people upset.

For Foul Calls?

My opposition pretty much comes down to one thing, soccer is just too fast paced to have instant replay. Replay is fine in other sports that have breaks and adequate time between plays. Football, there’s almost always a 30 second break after each play, except for in the sadly underused no huddle offense; In basketball when each team has 5-6 timeouts per half and there are 30 stops for free throws per game, they are not concerned with adding a couple more breaks to review questionable calls. Soccer on the other hand has zero timeouts per game and rarely has stops over a couple seconds. There are hardly pauses for most foul calls, as most teams are trying to get the game going before the other team has a chance to reset. This sort of play also allows for an advantage to the most physically fit team, so to add a break for instant replay would take away strategy and advantage from the game.

If they don’t decide to stop the game, then the other option would be to let play resume and review, but how would they correct the call. Reverse the call and reset the game clock to where it was? Offer a makeup call? Basically, when it comes down to putting instant replay in effect, you can either stop the game and ruin the pace of the game or you can let the game proceed and have no effective way to reverse an incorrect call.

Also consider though, since there is so much interpretation involved in what’s a foul, yellow, and red card, it’s practically impossible to have a perfectly called game. What I think is a yellow card is a foul to someone else, what some else thinks is a red, I think is a yellow. Is a player intentionally hitting someone or was it an accident (foul or yellow)? Replay will never solve the difference in interpretation and if done by a review booth, could potentially cause inconsistency in calls.

If any of the people who were bitching that instant replay was necessary in soccer for foul calls could please tell me how they planned on enacting it without destroying the game, that would be greatly appreciated.

For Goals, Red Cards?

I will agree with the pro-instant replay people that it should be used on goals (unless sensors start getting used, which would be even better). Unlike most other stops to the game, this stop is longer, with adequate time to review the call from a booth. And it’s the most crucial part of the game to call correctly. I don’t see this having a huge effect on the game except ensuring accuracy.

There are some areas that still lie in a gray area for me, though, such as the review of red cards. I don’t think it was fair that Kaka had to sit out a game for his slight brush against Keita that sent him (evidently convincingly enough) crashing to the ground in the worst imaginary injury to date in the World Cup. All review showed that this was simply a case of Keita abusing slight contact and the ref’s bad view of the situation. So, do we undermine the refs and review double yellows? And again, do we undermine them and tell them that what they saw as an intentional foul, which should merit a yellow, we happened to feel was unintentional and should simply be a foul call? I think there should still be no instant replay with these, since it’s just too complicated to reverse, just as I said with a regular foul call, but it hurts me to say that when there are clear mistakes being made.

So We Just Let The Horrible Officiating Continue?

There’s bound to be error in soccer, I know. It’s very difficult to be in proper position when the ball is moving so quickly, there’s no way to always be in a correct position to see any possible call and foul, and to add to that, the ref is running the whole time while trying to keep an eye on 22 people at once. But I’m not asking for perfection, I’m just asking for the copious amount of bullshit calls to be reduced to a small handful.

While I disagree with instant replay, there needs to be some change in the officiating. I don’t know that I can stand to watch another World Cup where players spend more time on the ground fake crying than up on their feet actually playing the game; I’ve already lived through Vlade Divac’s career and don’t care to see this type of play in any sport again.

Other solutions.

More refs. Baseball has 4 umps for a max of 13 players and they are watching a much more limited area of play, and all of this with more time to react, instant replay for homeruns, the ability to consult each other, and even more umps in playoffs. Football has 7 officials for 22 players and are watching 1 direction of play (for the most part) and all of this with only one play going on at a time, time to consult, instant replay, and booth review. Basketball has 3 officials for 10 players and are watching on a much more limited court size, and all this with the ability to consult and have instant replay. Basically what we see with soccer is there are fewer officials, more players, and due to the speed of the game and the inability to consult at length, 2 of the 3 officials have a lot of power taken out of their hands and the power really lies with the head ref. This has just been encouraging the fake fouls, since the players are taking advantage of the lack of vision on the field. I think the addition of more refs, (maybe another on field, and split power like in basketball?) would discourage this embarrassing behavior.

"The foul's on......eh, who cares?"-Coulibaly

Explanations. One thing that’s clearly necessary is justification of calls. I don’t think that the Coulibaly call is evidence of a need for replay as much as it’s evidence for mandatory explanations. The Bearded Man just wrote about this in his recent controversial post Why The World Cup Sucks and I absolutely, absolutely agree. The fact that he is unable to say who the foul is being called on is unacceptable. Even worse is FIFA’s avoidance to address the issue. Even as quick paced as the game is, he does have the two seconds it takes to tell a scorekeeper the players number. There’s no point in having headsets if they’re clearly not being used properly.

All I can say, is hopefully some sort of change will be made. I would like instant replay to stay out of the game, but if it does in fact sneak its way in, at least I won’t have to watch another miserable World Cup with the refs being the third team on the field.

-The Sand-Rant

Importing comments may lead to Exporting of Dwayne Bowe

Scout the home crowd next time Dwayne!

Dwayne Bowe already probably not Hailey’s favorite player might be seeing his way out of Kansas City sooner than later.  In a blurb in ESPN The Magazine, Bowe said the Chiefs imported ‘talent’ to road games. Women were waiting for them 3 to 4 days before a game in San Diego. This story has prompted many to speculate that Da Bowe Show, no relation to the T.O. Show, is over in Kansas City, especially with Haley’s interactions last season with Larry Johnson. It’s lead others to joke “The Chief’s have groupies?”. As a Chiefs fan myself, I wonder if the groupies are much better in Oakland than in Kansas City, since we have lost the last two at home to the also lowly Raiders but have won the last 7 there. Maybe import some to KC, whaddu say fellas?

Just a Thought

The Bearded Guy

Stand and Ovate: Sports Reality

Starting in the mid 90’s, after Real World had paved the way, we saw a boom in reality TV.  Big Brother, Survivor, American Idol came from this generation and have stuck around on major networks.  But when you get into the mid 30’s to 40’s channel-wise you are presented with a new type of reality TV.  The major train-wreck kind, the I want to marry a rock star, my boy friend is a tool, to the newly founded market of I’m an athlete or associate with an athlete.  I plan to dive into explore the new trend by breaking down the athlete based shows and the purpose behind them:

The Michael Vick Project:

This show aired on BET at the beginning of this year going 10 episodes.  After a sub-par comeback to the League, his PR team went about documenting the whole thing in order to try to rehabilitate his image.  The show lost steam and had little push in advertising.  Watching the first episode I could not decide whether I was supposed to like him or not, and why in the world were they interviewing his brother to back him as a creditable guy.  Does anyone remember Marcus’s actions at VT? BET maybe should have thought that through and said ‘Marcus, you go ahead and sit this one out’.  I don’t believe there are plans for a re-up for the show and for good reason…. Vick’s 2009 stat line: 6-13 for 86 yards, one touchdown, 24 rushes for 95 yards and two td’s as a backup.  Oddly his 93.7 passer rating was the highest of his career.

Purpose: Humanize him with a proposal, grave visit, family interviews, and his expression of shame!

The T.O. Show:

Why is this the main poster?

This little Gem is coming back for a second season after the VH1 quality success of the first 7 episodes.  In this show, our eyes are opened to the eccentric star that cries when you talk about his quarterback while wearing the jacket from Thriller.  This show was also a push to change the perception of a star, driven by his publicists who wanted some air time as well.  In season one, we get to see Terrell hook up with his Realtor, party it up, try to reunite with his X, and cry with his Grandma.  He loves to cry. Although, we all know Alzheimer’s is a terrible disease, this was a deliberate attempt for his TEAM to win us over. 2009 stats: 55 receptions for 829 yards and five TD’s, in a continuing decline of production.

Purpose:  To win back fans who were alienated by his odd 2007-2008 seasons.  Left us in the awkward zone still.

Basketball Wives:

Who's the Married ONE?

First, only one of them is married to a basketball player, Jennifer who’s married to retired player Eric “Mr Ed” Williams.  On the comedic side, her bio describes Eric as “…a wealthy and successful professional basketball player….” I had to look up who he played for and he was on 9 (7 teams) different rosters.  I don’t think that counts as successful, that’s like people saying Michael Olowokondi was a positive force for the rebuilding Clippers, OH WAIT his ex-girlfriend (NOT WIFE) is on the show.  I thought this show was going to be setup like a lot of the other group reality shows and we were going to see them all duking it out in some outlandish mansion that still isn’t big enough for people to have their own rooms.  Can someone explain that reality TV dilemma to me?  All the women feel they are better than Royce, the sideline dancer, ’cause NBA dancers maybe not be humans in their eyes? I don’t know, cause they way the chase jerseys just isn’t right, since they arent stalking them in college or at a night club.

Purpose:  For all these girls to stretch the money they have left. More like The NBA Hills than a reality show. The closest  show to a train wreck.

Please E! Make fantasy a reality!

Here’s hoping the  E! channel moves forward with Ben Roethlisberger’s new show “Small College Bar’s with Ben and Friends”.  Don’t tell me you wouldn’t watch!

Salute

The Bearded Guy

P.S.  The Mark,  Sorry for being LOUD

The Reason to give him a chance…The Speech

Number 2-5

The NFL draft just concluded yesterday but all the talk has stemmed from Day 1 and the Broncos taking Tim Tebow in the first round with the 25th pick overall. It had the recently mute Blasian blowing up everywhere besides the blog he writes for. Let me remind readers of  his specialties, NASCAR and Basketball, but he is positive this is the worst pick EVER. On the other hand, I am not opposed to the pick instead I would have actually taken him at 1(22) and not have worried about trading all the picks to Baltimore, but the draft slot is worth it to jump a head of franchises who had been very serious about taking Tebow in Buffalo,  Seattle, Tampa or Cleveland. So Denver got a little antsy 1 (25) but besides that here’s what I like about him.

Proven Hard Working Guy and Willing to take any role:

Freshman year comes in as one of the most sought after players in the country to a second string role to Gator Nation chagrin, they were not huge on Chris Leak by then. But he provided hard nosed running and a few jump passes and Florida rolled to a title.

Took over a team and became the vocal leader and pressure:

Put into the starting role, he  statistically dominated his sophomore year with the cabinet cleaned of a lot of the talent that had won the title Tebow kept them a float in a middle year. Adding a Heisman trophy, finalist the next two years.

Applies the pressure:

Coming in as favorites to win it all Tebow and the Gators falter fairly early to Ole Miss in which  Tebow gives the speech declaring no one would  play as hard or lead like him… etc basically he was going to be beast among children.  Thus he public took responsibility for the team’s success and failure and continued to produce.

Student of the game:

I really was somebody ask Kentucky

Recognizing the Florida system does not easily convert to the NFL he went out of his way to work on his delivery and foot work. He impressed enough people with his raw abilities at the combine. Tebow with the desire to be a NFL quarterback at all costs has put it all on the table, he is not Eric Crouch (another Heisman winning quarterback from a different college system) who thought he would give the QBing thing a shot his way and hopefully someone would fit him. Tebow is reinvented. If this was basketball Tebow’s ceiling would be about a Duke journey man like Laettner but then again this isn’t basketball.

Can't Miss

Systems are far more advanced in football, and its been proven that  those willing to put in the time in the film room and working to develop a knowledge of other teams can be the most successful players in the game. I would like to recall the 1998 Draft of a couple of kids named: Peyton and Ryan. Both declared can’t miss guys, great college careers and honors, but Mr Leaf was more of the guy you saw at the club than in the film room, and he became known as one of the biggest busts in draft history. Peyton on the other hand was forced into the starting role early and took some lumps but eventually became the premiere quarterback in the league, basically calling the offense on his own. P.M. does have a great arm, but have you seen this guy move? He is slower than anything, but as a student of the game, he has made himself into the most frustrating players to defend against.  This is only possible in football, and this is the real reason I think Tebow has a shot.

Get one thing straight…I am not a Florida fan, I actually hated Tebow in college, and I will continue to hate him as he plays for Denver. But I also think he is going to hurt us (The Chiefs) in the near future. Bottom line: Nike signed him…..

Show to Watch: Breaking Bad, got to love a cancer stricken chemistry teacher go off the deep end and start cookin‘! Thanks you AMC, can’t wait to see Don Draper again soon.

who said Walt doesn't Party

Salute

-The Bearded Guy

The Ghetto Work Out

No words

No one has posted since The Collins Effect. So I wanted to throw something up there that was fresh for any of our followers. Recently the circulation of Ghetto work out videos have been making there way around the DMZ teachers.  At first I thought these were going to be mock work out videos until I saw these CRAZY works on top of Bus stations, cross walk signs, playgrounds, park pavilions, and trash cans.

What you need:

• No Shirt

• Gloves, usually not workout gloves more football gloves with the fingers cut out are like Fanny Packs!

• Jean Shorts- Jorts or Jepris.

• Some Crisp Pair of AF1’s

• No Job with a W-2.

All the participants appear to be on HGH or some other form of The Clear. They are crazy swoll.  Just noticing but you haven’t seen any white guys caught doing the Ghetto workout, but I have concluded that John Cena must have had an official “24 ghetto pass “.  John has jorts, no shorts, quarterback wrist bands (substitute for gloves), as for shoes? ask The Mark.

John loves Jorts

Ghetto Workout even has a celebrity representative (Cause people under WWE contracts do not count as celebrities)….

Who can forget the Driveway workout/interview

Terrell practiced the principals of the 24 hr Ghetto Workout by doing sit-ups  during his interview in a driveway. Way to rep’ it TO!

Enjoy these masterpieces

Yeah I know! Now you do too….

The Bearded Guy