1:04 PMMike Florio reported this week that a source told him NFL players might be considering striking during the playoffs. Patriots linebacker Adalius Thomas did his best to marginalize Florio in strongly denying the possibility. Florio is a former practicing attorney, he ain't making stuff up A.T.
12:35 PM I feel bad for Univ. of Maryland football and hoops fans. Athletic Director Debbie Yow is a complete embarrassment. Witness her insistence on Baghdad Bob-treatment on a real, live Washington, DC radio show. Pathetic. She needs to be reassigned to Title IX compliance.
12:30 PM Gainesville Sun Columnist Pat Dooley: "Last week in Jax press box a bunch of national cfb writers -- none of them could name which teams were in which ACC division. Hilarious!"
12:15 PMBob Griese is back! He's presently doing Iowa-Northwestern game on ESPN. (No truth to rumor that he shot Blackjack Taco TV spots during his week off.)
Here’s why Brad Childress is popular with the media. Chilly responding to question from Judd Zulgad of the MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE on if Brett Favre’s groin is injured:
BC: “Standing right behind him when he was warming up (before Monday’s practice) and I saw him reach for his groin. Hold it … whatever you do with a groin. Rub it. That’s what I think I witnessed. It twinged a little. He’s on the injury report as hip related but that lower chain all fits together.”
ESPN.com’s Kevin Seifert has this from the Lambeau crowd as Brent took the field today for warmups: “Brett Favre jogged onto the field here at precisely 3:29 p.m. ET Sunday. Lambeau Field was about half full at the time, and the boos certainly outnumbered the cheers. But I would hardly call the reaction thunderous in either event.”
Lunar space landing. Beatles on Ed Sullivan. Final episode of M*A*S*H. Johnny Carson’s last show. All seminal moments in the history of television. I’m pleased to report today that you can now, offcially add another eminent epoch in small screen time to that distinguished list:
(Brown’s eye-watering account invoked visions of Bojangle’s Chili Bar)
Gilbert Brown’s Friday guest appearance with Jay Crawford on ESPN’s First Take. (Thank you YBB)
Scene-setter: To no one’s surprise, former Favre teammate Brown’s sentimentality most likely made eyes water in the audience.
If you don’t count the film “Little Big League,” was there ever a more magical two-day stretch in the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome than Oct. 5-6, 2009? First Brett Favre switches jerseys and tames the hated Green Bay Packers, then they take a few hours to sweep the place out and people file in to do it all over again, the Twins winning a one-game playoff with the Tigers in 12 innings, 6-5.
It wasn’t exactly Rio after winning the 2016 Olympics, but it was about as raucous as Minnesotans get. And we shall never see its likes again: The Twins are gone to a new, open-air home next season, the Vikings left to share the dome with the occasional garden expo and Promise Keepers evangelical Christian service. Read more…
Some NFL leftovers for your Friday, and what could be more fun? This Jack Lambert commercial from 1985 has him on a water park ride in full uniform, promoting Raging Rapids. Unfortunately, the Packers fan to the right is in no mood for such tomfoolery. The Lambert video, plus a piercing NFL ref/Whataburger investigation, following the jump.
Rich Rodriguez finally has some breathing room at Michigan. After going on the hot seat after a 3-9 debut season that was the worst in school history, Rodriguez was almost buried before the season began by a range of allegations including violating NCAA practice rules and getting sued for a condo deal gone bad. But after a 38-34 win over Notre Dame in one of the most amazing college football games ever played a college football game, the Wolverines are back in the Top 25 and suddenly relevant again.
So how does Rich Rod celebrate this stunning reversal of fortune? Exactly like you would expect he would: by opening his fool mouth and blowing out any goodwill he had earned by blatantly lying. It’s not his fault: it’s human nature. We all revert back to our default mechanisms at some point. For Rodriguez, it’s making an ass out of himself.
Go to any major sporting venue for a game, and you’re likely to hear all sorts of colorful language to describe the visiting team (or, if they suck, the home team). It’s universal that at some point, somebody’s manhood - and indeed, his own ability and desire to procreate with women - is going to be questioned. Repeatedly. And God help any athlete who isn’t white, because that’s going to come up once or twice too.
(Verrry mature.)
But for as much flak as Philadelphia fans have earned for their poor behavior, isn’t it time we started admitting that Chicago fans are rapidly becoming some of the most obnoxiously childish in sports? Why, just over the last couple years, we’ve had casual racism, more casual racism, and now this delightful sign (above) directed at Sports Voldemort and Packers fans in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
But the part about the $10,000 fine is true. And wouldn’t that be a great way to get out of it? Brett Favre fined ten grand by NFL for illegal crackback block on Houston’s Eugene Wilson on Monday, so he announces his retirement. Then comes back in Week 3, after Roger Goodell is convinced that he’s remorseful.
If he can escape Jemele Hill and her Duracel Batteries of Doom, it’s a foolproof plan. Anyway, our protagonist is a little lighter in the wallet after Goodell watched “The Best Of Brett Favre — Wide Receiver Edition” and was not amused by what he saw. Read more…
