11:35 PMCal upsets Stanford @ The Farm on Saturday night 34-28. Cardinal QB Andrew Luck goes 11-29 passing, including a late INT deep in Cal territory. Coach Jim Harbaugh with a questionable 4th down, Belichickian call that caused Stanford to need a late TD to win.
10:09 PM ESPN BCS guru Brad Edwards reports today on ESPN Radio that Penn State will be selected over Iowa for Fiesta Bowl. Iowa is likely to land in the Capital One Bowl, in a game against Ole Miss. Edwards cited TV ratings, fueled by Joe Paterno's presence, as reason PSU gets BCS over Iowa.
10:08 PMDrew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press reports on ESPN News Saturday night that UM AD Bill Martin has confirmed Rich Rodriguez will be back next season as Michigan Coach.
It’s not often that injury news takes us completely aback, but that’s absolutely the case over in Pullman tonight. One slightly mentioned aspect of last weekend’s game pitting Washington State against Southern Methodist was WSU’s tailback, James Montgomery, suffering an apparent knee injury. Not that those aren’t serious, but, y’know… they happen.
But one thing that doesn’t usually happen is a potentially fatal injury that nobody recognizes immediately. That’s what apparently befell Montgomery during the game; after the game, he reported increasing discomfort with the knee, and went in for surgery on Sunday morning. It probably saved his life.
The Worldwide Leader dropped the bomb around midnight that Terrell Owens, whose given name could be Mercurial T. Owens, has been let go by the Dallas Cowboys. Clearly, anticipated chemistry issues with Jon Kitna forced the move. Kitna is on the record as preferring Sweet’n'Low while Owens is all about the Equal.
(”Ha ha ha ha… pack your stuff.”)
On SportsCenter last night, ESPN’s Michael Smith reported there would be significant financial penalties for the Cowboys to cut Owens as much of his 4-year, $34 million contract signed less than a year ago is guaranteed cash. We hope this means Owens will continue to have at least twenty million reasons to come back to camp this summer.
(Note to ESPN: Neil Everett is monumentally awful at ad-libbing. Never tell us how cool it is to be the one on the dais when news breaks. When a big story hits, break the glass on Bob Ley. Surprisingly good: Stuart Scott. Also, how did Ed Werder not break this story?)
(Note 2 to ESPN: Please remind Keyshawn Johnson that Charlie Manson comparisons may be a bit dated, not to mention a little racy.)
In brighter news, the Cleveland Cavaliers claimed the first musical chair in the Longines Symphonette that is the NBA playoffs with a 91-73 triumph at home against Milwaukee. The Cavaliers move to 48-12, which is exactly how LeBron James hopes his Knicks career starts in two years. (We kid, Cleveland, we kid.)
On the other end of the spectrum, Shaquille O’Neal has been letting everyone know that his excrement does not emit a malignant odor. First, he somehow thought he could pull off the Divac Dive against Dwight “Time Warner Intellectual Property Here” Howard.
Then, when the Van Gundy with the honest living fussed about the sad little move, there was a Shaqhissy, captured on Miami’s 790 THE TICKET by Jorge Sedano and reproduced below in the popular MP3 format:
None of this, of course, helped the Suns win in Orlando or Miami. The Suns dropped their second Florida game in the “He Hate Me” series of former O’Neal teams last night in Miami, 135-129. No defense in here anywhere.
We feel compelled to note again that Shaq’s a complicated fellow. We recently saw him encourage his kids post-game to say hello to a fragile 7′ 6″ teen that sat near courtside after being featured on the local news the previous night. This was done under the stands with little fanfare, maybe a few dozen witnesses and none from the media.
When his young son was too shy to do so and tried to hide under Dad’s massive jacket, Shaq gently insisted until his son shook the adolescent hand. Shaq could relate to the teen’s condition better than nearly anyone on the planet and made sure that young man felt welcome. Also, Shaq showed his own son the importance of graciousness.
Shaq makes that gesture damned near every day of his life, often without credit. He’s also the same man that made the comments to the media above. He may have been compared to a meteorite by this author yesterday, but not in the most important way: Shaquille O’Neal is a force of nature. Try to comprehend him at your own risk.
Same for Terrell Owens. Same for LeBron James. Maybe not so much for Jon Kitna.
The biggest news out of the NHL trade deadline: Olli Jokinen moves from Calgary to Phoenix for a pretty bauble or three, allowing him to work for a team that has a half-decent chance of being solvent next season.
Our best to the family of Vikings coaching legend Bud Grant’s wife, Pat Grant, who passed away yesterday. We’d tell you her birthdate, but we never talk about a lady’s age.
And finally, a high school football coach-turned-sex offender just can’t stay away from the porn. Heavens, don’t tell him about the D-III basketball player! (Or Tom Izzo. Smooth, smooth Tom Izzo.)
When a PR company puts out a release on election day, especially on one of the most historic election days even, it means one of two things: an incompetent flak, or they’re trying to slip in under the radar because they’re embarrassed by the product. But what could possibly be so embarrassing? How does Keyshawn Johnson, Interior Designer sound?
Set your DVRs now for Keyshawn Johnson: Tackling Design, to premier on the A&E Network next year. The premise is about as spectacular as they come: follow everyone’s favorite overrated receiver and loudmouthed analyst as he tries to make a name for himself in the cutthroat world of making sure the carpet matches the drapes. (Keyshawn drops his manhood like he dropped passes, after the jump.)
Good news, Cowboys fans, Terrell Owens has buried the hatchet with Tony Romo after Sunday’s loss to the Washington Redskins. In case you missed it, after the game on Sunday, Terrell complained that Romo didn’t get him the ball enough - even though he was targeted in nearly a third of all the Cowboys plays on offense.
After watching the tape, Owens admits that he was just frustrated with the loss and needed to blow off steam. Though he also managed to point out that even though there were a lot of balls thrown his way, not all of them were a “valid catchable pass.” Of course, after pardoning Romo for not being perfect, Owens moved on to ESPN analyst Keyshawn Johnson who was openly critical of T.O.’s postgame petulance. You know, because Keyshawn was never the type to complain about not getting the ball. Anyway, T.O. repeatedly referred to Keyshawn as Sheshawn (snap!), and threw in this little dig as well.
Keyshawn Johnson always knew he was one football stud that had some serious style. Now he has the hardware to finally prove it.
(Give me the damn ‘Best Dressed Man’ award!)
Matt Mosley of ESPN’s HASHMARKS struts out the news that the NFL studio analyst was awarded “Best Dressed Man” at this year’s Michael Awards, joining such illustrious past victors as Pat O’Brien & Regis Philbin.
Now Keyshawn believes that winning a trophy from a little-known fashion awards show should silence the skeptics of his style: Read more…
Jeff Darlington of the Herald: “Former Pro Bowl wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson has not ruled out the possibility of making a comeback to play specifically in Miami for Parcells, a mentor and close friend.
“In an e-mail to The Miami Herald, agent Jerome Stanley said Johnson remains in ‘great shape’ while also remaining close to Parcells, who coached Johnson with the New York Jets and Dallas Cowboys.”
T.O. IS P.O.’ED OVER KEYSHAWN’S COWBOYS COMMENTS: Terrell Owens isn’t too happy with recent comments from Keyshawn Johnson:
AWFUL ANNOUNCING hears it all started when the ex-NFL receiver attributed the Cowboys’ success this year to previous coach (and fellow ESPN analyst) Bill Parcells.Johnson explained that the 12-1 record was due to Parcells’ assembly of the team in seasons before, and that current head coach Wade Phillips is the beneficiary of Bill’s work.
Owens, who’s no big fan of the Big Tuna, didn’t appreciate Keyshawn’s comments: “My thing is give credit to Wade. The difference between Wade and Parcells is this: Parcells, he didn’t use me as a playmaker; Wade, he got the staff, and that’s what I’m being used as.”FRIENDS OF CRAZY JOE DAVOLA adds that T.O. then had some special words specifically for Keyshawn:
“I challenge him to come down here and take my job. ESPN producers, let him go. I’m probably the reason he’s in the booth now. He’s going to be a hater and throw me under the bus because he has to defend Bill. He won a Super Bowl and all, but you’d have to check the roster to know he was even on the team.”
It’s not the first time Keyshawn has created verbal fisticuffs with a flashy receiver. Earlier this season, he got into it with fellow Johnson Chad over Ocho Cinco’s TD celebrations.Put these three together with Michael Irvin, and you got yourself quite a round-table discussion. TV viewers will need a widescreen set just to hold all the egos.
The SPRINGFIELD (OH) NEWS-SUN offers a moment of silence for the suddenly subdued Chad Johnson, who’s been pretty quiet this season. But when you’re 2-5 and in the AFC North basement, there isn’t much for Chad to chat about.The Bengals QB is hoping to turn the team around, and get back to the original Johnson: “I like the louder Chad — the more confident (player), talking trash in people’s ears about different things.”
Fellow receiver T.J. Houshmanzadeh isn’t as concerned with Chad clamming up: “I don’t think anything’s wrong with him. We’re not winning. So when you don’t win, everybody’s disappointed. He’s no different.”
But ol’ 85 can still talk it up when he wants to. Just ask Keyshawn.
