Tag Archives: NFL

Hump Day Harrumphs & Hurrahs: 8/31

Football, , ,

foot1Hurrah: Tomorrow is kickoff. Just over 24 hours until toe hits pigskin.

How dandy that the U of L Cardinals are among the few who play Opening Thursday. Which shall allow we obsessives not to miss any of the other boffo games on the first weekend’s slate.

Harrumph: Teddy B goes down. Not much more to say about this.

Just too sad for a great kid, who is a warrior but seems injury prone.

What makes it even sadder from my perspective is the report from NFL Pundit Laureate Peter King, who just finished a month long tour of all the NFL camps. In his report at MMQB, he weighed in on the best this and best that he observed during the look see.

He wrote this: Continue reading Hump Day Harrumphs & Hurrahs: 8/31 →

Thursday Throwdown: Football, Fútbol & Eye Candy

Baseball, Football, Soccer, , , , , , ,

sportsnewsThe hits just keep on coming for the State University of New Jersey.

The regime of Athletics AD Julie Hermann, formerly of U of L, can’t seem to move beyond beleaguered.

The latest imbroglio concerns football coach Kyle Flood.

It is reported that Flood sent an email from a personal account to the professor of one of his players, whose academic standing might have been, shall we say, precarious.

You know, it’s not like this doesn’t happen all the time. But the sly schools, the ones with a sense of how to take care of such matters, don’t leave a digital trail.

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Speaking of coaches who want to run with the big boys, I gotta reiterate this question people are asking.

What did Baylor’s Art Briles know about the sordid past and present of Boise State transfer Sam Ukwuacho? And when did he know it? Continue reading Thursday Throwdown: Football, Fútbol & Eye Candy →

Throwdown Thursday: Hoops, Pucks, Balls, Bats & FIFA

Baseball, Basketball, Hockey, Soccer, , , , ,

allsportsImagine for a moment that the NFL announced the 2020 Super Bowl was going to be played at an outdoor stadium yet to be built at Lake Superior State, a school that presently doesn’t even have a football program, in Sault Ste. Marie, on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan,

In the United States, where American football reigns, the sporting media and sports fans alike would be aghast.

Immediate inquiries would ensue, eventually whittling down the possible explanations for such an absurd decision to two possibilities: 1) The AD at the school has a video of Roger Goodell in a state of inamorata with an underage sheep, or 2) Roger Goodell took a several million dollar bribe to see the deal was done.

Now then, suppose this happened on a global stage? In futbol (Read: soccer), a sport so much more popular than its American-style interloper, that what is happening with FIFA makes Deflategate seem a squabble between a parent and a Little League coach when the former’s 7 year old didn’t get to bat in the 9th inning of a game in Germantown?

Which is exactly what happened. When FIFA, the governing body for world soccer awarded a future World Cup to Qatar. Much to the chagrin and befuddlement of everyone who can appreciate that Lionel Messi is the world’s leading sports icon these days. Continue reading Throwdown Thursday: Hoops, Pucks, Balls, Bats & FIFA →

Thursday SportsFlash: Elevation, Deflation, Exasperation

Basketball, Football, Tennis, , , , , , , , , , , ,

allsportsSo, I awoke in my favorite recliner in repose in front of the telly from my usual mid-evening nap, just as OKC’s Thunder and and Washington’s Wiz started OT.

And a splendid five minutes of extra time it proved to be. Back and forth, until Russell Westbrook zipped through an opening in the defense wide enough to allow the Bud Clydesdales passage . . . with room to spare . . . for the winning layup.

But I’m here to consider Kevin Durant, whom the D.C. crowd kept imploring to pull a LeBron/E.T.and come home. He’s listed as 6-9, but he knows that you know that I know that Adam Silver knows that’s a considerable misundermeasurization.

Lithe and silky smooth, the guy handles the ball like a PG, slithers to his spots like a SF and his shot reminds me of Pete Rose in his heyday. Which is to say that, so wicked was his way with a Louisville Slugger, when Ramblin’ Gamblin’ man didn’t get a hit, you had to wonder what happened? Continue reading Thursday SportsFlash: Elevation, Deflation, Exasperation →

Hump Day Huzzahs & Humbugs: Ray, Roger & Recruiting

Basketball, Football, , , , , ,

thumbdownI know that U of L Cardinal fans, at least the ones who remember the days before T Will and E5, have a memory of Danny Ferry.

1986.

National Championship game in Dallas.

The horn was sounding as Denny Crum’s Cardinals had just “upset” Duke for U of L’s second title of the decade.

A loose ball landed in Jeff Hall’s hands as the clock struck midnight for the Blue Devils.

At which moment, the aforementioned Ferry, now the beleaguered GM of the Atlanta Hawks, then the pivot man for the loser, clotheslined Hall with a forearm shiver.

He was a loser then.

He’s a loser now. Continue reading Hump Day Huzzahs & Humbugs: Ray, Roger & Recruiting →

Johnny Foolish Flips the Finger; Manziel Far From #1

Football, ,

QBOkay, okay, yes, yes, I couldn’t help myself last night.

I was out to dinner with some buddies, but couldn’t wait to get home. Because I wanted to watch the Cockamamie Kid, the rookie who is the darling of the City By The Lake. (At least until the Cavs start preseason.)

Of course, Johnny Manziel is a side show like no other this season. But, in this period when those of us who reside in the Province of Pigskin are chomping at the bit for some real gridiron action, such peripheral tomfoolery is compelling.

So, just after I click on the telly, which is before I even sit down after locking the front door of my abode, there’s Johnny Foolish, appropriately #2 on your scorecard, where Otto Graham once toiled. At QB for the once fabled Cleveland Browns. Continue reading Johnny Foolish Flips the Finger; Manziel Far From #1 →

Monday Musings: Smith, Sam & Sterling

Basketball, Football, , ,

russWhile, in the aftermath of the unfortunate “mishap,” it’s not quite fair, there’s still a part of me that wants to wag my finger at Big Russ, admonishing, “Why the hell are you shipping Fed Ex?

“Louisville is a UPS town. Fed Ex is Memphis. Remember when Calipari was going to trot his Tigers out in Fed Ex unis?

“Anybody who cares a hoot about Louisville ships with its major industry when possible.”

So there, I got that out of my system.

Which is to avoid the obvious. There’s a Fed Ex employee here in town, who’s got Russ Smith’s 2013 tourney jersey hanging on his bedroom wall, like some stolen Renoir. Continue reading Monday Musings: Smith, Sam & Sterling →

Thursday Night Winners: Bridgewater, Bruins & Browns (Maybe)

Announcing, Basketball, Football, Hockey, , , ,

footballoldYes, I watched the NFL Draft.

A lot of it.

With impunity.

Without compunction.

So also, The Professor, another fellow, like myself, who will slobber over mention of the next great rising sophomore, 6-6 SF who is considering matriculation to play for our favorite team. But who, like myself, has been all too quick to criticize those who have a Mel Kiper Jr. shrine in the corner of their man cave.

“NFL Draft? You kiddin’ me. Who cares?”

And, you know, I bet some of those media guys who boast of their indifference to this new rite of spring tuned in too.

This year was different. For any number of reasons. Continue reading Thursday Night Winners: Bridgewater, Bruins & Browns (Maybe) →

Will Teddy cross Bridge over Trouble Water?

Football, ,

teddybThe NFL Draft is coming up, you know?

Chris Berman is doing bloviation calisthenics and clearing his considerable throat.

Mel Kiper Jr. has a fistful white crosses, so he won’t sleep until all 184 rounds are completed. And he’s got a hep-lock in place with a Brylcream drip, to make sure his coif doesn’t fade like the draft status of local fave Teddy Bridgewater.

Which raises this query. Can the best player in the history of U of L Cardinal football — Yes, better than Doug
Buffone, Otis Wilson and that other guy, the fellow with a statue, Johnny U — overcome the perils of over-analysis?

During his career, Teddy B’s projected draft status skyrocketed as he eviscerated one foe after another on the gridiron, while playing hurt, often with an offensive line that couldn’t keep him out of constant peril. The aforementioned draft “guru” Kiper Jr. had him atop his board for the longest time. Pick #1.

Then Bridgewater’s career ended, and what became more important than those pinpoint TD passes to DeVante Parker was whether clipped his fingernails, right-hand or left-hand first? Continue reading Will Teddy cross Bridge over Trouble Water? →

Tax Day Titters: Drafts, Hoops, Pucks, Birdies & More (Music Video Included)

Basketball, Golf, Hockey, , , , , ,

animated_sportsFor those of you who genuflect every a.m. before a giclée of Mel Kiper Jr., those of you who vitalis your hair into a coiffure that emulates the self-styled NFL draft “expert,” there’s now a movie about all you obsess over.

“Draft Day” stars Kevin Costner as the GM of the Cleveland Browns, who has choices to make on, you know, draft day. You can listen to my review here.

Now onto some real sports considerations.

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Looks like things is gonna be just the same as they ever was next season in women’s college hoops. Continue reading Tax Day Titters: Drafts, Hoops, Pucks, Birdies & More (Music Video Included) →