Goodbye, Arena Football. It’s been fun. I guess. As I am sure you have probably heard, the AFL liked taking the last year off so much that they have made their absence permanent. They have ceased operations indefinitely, and are reportedly about to declare bankruptcy. It’s the end of a 22 year era.
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Author: T.O. Whentam
The Giants are, quite obviously, on crack. I understand why they would want to get the Eli Manning contract situation dealt with so it isn’t a distraction. I just don’t understand why they had to break the bank like they did to do it. Just think about it for a second – Eli Manning is now the highest paid player in the league! Albert Haynesworth got a bit more guaranteed cash, but Eli annually makes the most. Do you believe for a single second that he deserves that? I admit to having a few problems with Eli that might color my opinion slightly, but come on. This Manning is hard pressed to be legitimately called a top ten QB in the league, so there is no question that he is overpaid with this deal. I wish them luck and all, but I have absolutely no faith in Manning, or that this deal is going to turn out well for the team. Frankly, I think it could all turn out badly.
It is so nice to be able to be talking football again. We always talked about it some, of course, but now things are really getting rolling. I love summer for the weather, but sports are at their best in the fall. With training camps well underway everywhere now, let’s take a look at some of the stories that have caught my attention today:
Carson Palmer is well on his way to wasting even more of his impressive talent. He’s coming off a lost season thanks to elbow problems, and he isn’t exactly setting a positive tone now – he has already missed two days of practices since training camp started. It was only because of the flu, but it’s still a bad omen. I was sure Palmer was going to be a megastar when he came out of college, but he has been frustratingly mediocre in the last few seasons. I put about 98 percent of the blame for that on Marvin Lewis. If you have read this site for while then you have heard this before, and you are certainly going to hear it again – Lewis is the worst coach in football. The Bengals have been pathetic underachievers for much of his tenure, and they will continue to disappoint for as long as the team’s management refuses to come to their senses and get themselves a real coach. Palmer, and the city of Cincinnati, deserves better.
Someone up there has a seriously twisted sense of humor. That’s really the only explanation for the three horrifically timed injuries in the NFL this weekend. First, in his first practice after Brett Favre’s continued retirement made him the likely Vikings’ starter, QB Tarvaris Jackson sprained his MCL . It doesn’t seem to be particularly serious at this point, but knee injuries can definitely linger for quarterbacks. He could miss just a couple of days, or he could be out for a couple of weeks or more. Either way, this will be a good chance for Sage Rosenfels to seize the advantage in the QB race if he is up to it.
Wow, am I ever glad that people don’t bet on swimming. Or maybe people do, but only the real degenerates. What’s going on right now at the World Championships is that swimming has descended into being a total mockery of a sport, and they seem to have little interest in doing anything about it.
I need to go back to the events of Monday for a second because there was a lot going on and I haven’t had a chance to hit on it yet. Specifically, I want to talk about the Charlotte Bobcats. They clearly seem to have lost their mind. I mean, I know Larry Brown is getting older and all, but I didn’t know he was totally senile. If you missed it, they have traded Emeka Okafor to the Hornets for Tyson Chandler. Bizarre deal.
Continue reading “Nice Move, Charlotte (He Says Sarcastically)”
He’s reinstated, so that means we need to talk about him – even if we are already sick of doing so. Here are a few things that I’m thinking about:
– I think that it’s a bit ridiculous that Vick is suspended for at least five more games. I have written a few times before about how I don’t understand Roger Goodell’s burning desire to be a higher moral authority than the courts or the higher powers. I strongly believe that Vick had to pay a debt to society for what he did. I also think that he has paid that debt in a pretty significant way – both in terms of time and financial impact. He deserves everything that has happened to him, but I don’t understand why Goodell feels like the league needs to exact another pound or two of flesh when Vick has already paid a massive debt. The punishment needs to fit the crime and all that, but I don’t understand why Goodell believes that the football punishment must significantly exceed the societal punishment
I was reminded of an incredible stat while reading Peter King this morning – at least five different NFL teams have made the playoffs after not making them the year before in each of the last 13 years. Considering that there are only 12 playoff teams that is truly incredible. The flip-side of that, of course, is that at least five playoff teams from one year haven’t made it the next. The short handicapping lesson to take from that – last year means almost nothing.
I’ve mentioned it a few times over the last three weeks, so if you read this blog the you have probably guessed I am a big fan of the race. I haven’t always been. I watched the last three or four Armstrong victories pretty closely, lost much of the interest when he retired, and became far more obsessed by it than I would have guessed this year. I’m a huge Lance Armstrong fan for a lot of reasons. I think he’s the most ridiculously talented, freakish athletic there is. I am in awe of his competitive fire and his will. I’m also pretty loyal to his cause – my mom died of cancer last year when she was far too young, so I’m not a huge fan of the disease.
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