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11.30.2006
Boyfriends in Hockey? Via After Elton we get this quote from Tampa Bay Lightning coach John Tortoella on the distractions of being home for a long time: "I think it's good we are getting out on the road for an extended period of time with the Xs and Os and all the teaching we have done and the time we have spent trying to teach our team concept. I think when you go on the road and are together with no wives, no babies, no girlfriends, no boyfriends or whatever it may be, you end up being together, and that's where your chemistry starts coming together in the locker room."
Boyfriends? Does Tortoella know something that's not public about his hockey team? It's hard to tell and the Tampa writer had nothing more on the item. Perhaps it was just a turn of the phrase or else we have a real life example of the upcoming movie about a gay member of the NHL Toronto Maple Leafs.
His comment brings to mind a similar one made a few years ago by Baltimore Ravens coach Brian Billick about his rules for his NFL team's training camp. Nobody is allowed in a player's dorm room during camp. "No one. Mother, father, agent, girlfriend, boyfriend, whatever," Billick said.
I have always thought that there are some gay players in team sports who are out to a close confidant on the team, but I would not imagine a coach would be among them given the nature of the coach-player relationship at the pro level. But we can always hope. --Jim Buzinski
11.29.2006
Homoerotic Tribute to Brady: Tom Brady, he of the dimpled chin, dreamy eyes and three Super Bowl rings, inspires a lot of passion among football fans, gay and straight. But one of the funniest tributes is a clip making the rounds on YouTube, called "Brady." Click here to watch.
Sung to the tune of Kenny Rogers' "Lady," "Brady" offers up a cornucopia of images of the New England Patriots quarterback, from on-the-field action to his many dreamboat photos for the likes of GQ and other magazines. Among the choicer lyrics:
--"I want to help you reach completion." --"Your balls are the only balls I need. My end zone is where I want you to be." --"You're the starter in my fantasy league for two." --"I'm a tight end but I hope one day to be your wide receiver. How I long for you to hit me in the slot." --"Brady, you're the QB in the tight pants and I love you."
The creator of the song is a Texas lawyer who goes by the You Tube handle of "BF83." He told the Boston Herald that despite the lyrics, he's married and has two kids. "I'm very much hetero," he told the paper. "It's a little bit of a satire on the adoration of athletes. And a little bit on the homoeroticism in sports. It works on many levels." He described the song, which he wrote with a female co-worker as "creepy. But funny, nonetheless."
For a straight guy, BF83 certainly is familiar with every possible football term that is homoerotic. As one poster on YouTube said: "If anyone is willing to believe this was written by a straight guy no matter how many kids he's bred, they need to review the definition of hetero and homosexual and bisexual!" Wrote another: "I'm not gay, but after watching this, I am willing to learn." --Jim Buzinski
11.28.2006
It's official: Joey Harrington is the NFL's newest "It" boy. Until now, that title has been shared by a various players who turned heads from West Hollywood to Chelsea. But Harrington's Thanksgiving Day performance last week has cemented it.
For the last four days, friends have been asking me, "Did you see Joey Harrington on Thanksgiving? He's so hot." Uh, yeah, we've been talking about Harrington since he entered the NFL in 2002. But many football (quote/unquote) "fans" hadn't gotten a good look at Harrington, or even knew who he was, until his throttling of his own team last Thursday. Now, though, he has one of my friends saying, "Move over Jeremy Bloom, Joey Harrington's taken my heart;" and many other gay men who tune into the NFL on Thanksgiving and the Super Bowl suddenly want to know a lot more about the latest Miami Dolphins starting quarterback.
Playing with the Detroit Lions for the first four years of his career, he was somewhat stuck in obscurity. The Lions didn't see many primetime games while he was there, and Lions players don't get a lot of media attention unless their first name is Barry and their last name is Sanders.
But Outsports readers have had an eye on Harrington since he was at the University of Oregon. In 2005, Harrington was in the semifinals of the Outsports King of the Hardwood contest; In 2006, Harrington made it to the Elite Eight in the contest. Anecdotally, I can say that pictures of Joey Harrington have been a popular request from our readers.
But the pics aren't all Harrington is about. He's also got a sensitive and quirky side that is well-documented. Just last month, Miami Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor said of Harrington, "After the game he listens to Morrisey, writes poetry and tries to cut himself."
Last year, Harrington miffed many gay fans I know when he grew his hair long and a beard sprouted on his face. But, this season he's back to the clean-cut image that made him so popular at Outsports.
And now that he's living and working near South Beach, the tan he has doesn't hurt his image, either. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
11.27.2006
USC Has Title Shot: By virtue of its 44-24 whipping of Notre Dame. USC has moved to the No. 2 spot in college football BCS rankings behind Ohio State. If the Trojans beat UCLA on Saturday, they will face Ohio State in the BCS title game on Jan. 4.
The BCS still sucks, as one-loss Florida or Michigan and unbeaten Boise State will likely be shut out of the title game, but the Trojans are deserving. They dominated a Notre Dame team ranked sixth heading into the game and have also beat Top 25 teams Cal, Nebraska and Arkansas.
I agree with a Sports Illustrated writer who hopes for Florida to finish 12-1 and then be shut out of the title game since this might spur the creation of some sort of meaningful playoff system. SEC fans are still steamed about Auburn getting the shaft two years ago, and if the Gators are left out, the power conference will raise a stink. --Jim Buzinski
11.23.2006
Happy Thanksgiving!: Jock Talk is taking a few days off to celebrate the holiday. Enjoy!
11.22.2006
The Case for Michigan: Two days ago, in my weekly rip of college football's BCS, I argued that the last thing I wanted to see was an Ohio State-Michigan rematch. Ethan, an Outsports reader and Wolverine diehard, took me to task. Since his argument is part of the debate on who should play for the national title, I figured it deserved an airing:
Jim Buzinski gave a rather flawed argument recently as to why Michigan shouldn't get another crack at Ohio State in the National Championship game. He mentioned that the BCS is kinder to teams who lose depending on when they lost, and that if other one loss teams like Florida, Arkansas and West Virginia are "screwed" in the end, that we need a playoff system that would be more on the fair side than the BCS.
I don't disagree that we need a playoff system in College football. In fact I have been screaming for it since Michigan had to share its national title with Nebraska in 1997. But that doesnt mean that Michigan isn't still deserving of its No. 2 ranking.
Yes, they lost their final regular season game. But to who? No. 1-ranked Ohio State, and by the slim margin of three points. There was no blowout, and while the highly touted U of M defense was shredded, so was Ohio State's. OSU was a team that had allowed three rushing touchdowns all year, and they gave up three to Mike Hart alone last Saturday.
Michigan losing to Ohio State does not make those other teams more worthy of a national title game. Quite the contrary, the fact that it was such a good game, (even though Bo was turning over in his grave at the thought of 900 yards in total offense) makes Michigan the only logical choice for the national title game. Do you really want to sit through the massacre that Ohio State would put on one of these other less deserving squads? Or do you want to see how this incredible rivalry would play out on neutral ground instead of the hostile atmospheres that are the Horse Shoe and the Big House respectively?
Those other teams -- Florida, Arkansas, West Virginia, USC, and Notre Dame -- who did they lose to? Auburn, USC, Louisville, Oregon State and Michigan respectively. All respectable teams to lose to, especially Michigan, but none of those teams are anywhere near the level of Ohio State, so how can you not send the Wolverines back on the field with a chance to settle the score?? Anything else would be unfair, and far more a reason to call for an end to the BCS.
11.21.2006
The Thorpedo Retires: Ian Thorpe, a five-time Olympic gold medalist and one of the top swimmers of his generation, announced he was retiring from swimming. "I'd been working towards this decision for quite some time," he said at a press conference in Australia. "I'm a 24-year-old, and I'm only just 24 as well. I'm young enough to still see the new challenges and be able to accept them within my life. I'm also old enough now that I realize all of these accomplishments that have got me to this place in my life."
Thorpe had been living in Los Angeles the past few months to rejuvenate himself and to escape the constant attention he gets Down Under, where he gets rock-star attention. L.A. is one place where someone like Thorpe can go relatively unnoticed, though Australian paparazzi still staked him out and his diet of In 'n Out burgers was scrutinized.
What was also scrutinized was Thorpe's sexual orientation. He has long been the subject of rumors that he is gay, though he says they are not true. "People can think whatever they want to think and people will tell you black and blue that I am gay," he told the Herald Sun in Australia back in August. "There is no basis for what they are saying. It's no big deal because that doesn't affect any part of my life. I don't care what people are saying in that regard because it doesn't mean when I get in my car I worry about what's going to happen today or am I being followed. It's not embarrassing."
In his retirement announcement, Thorpe was vague about his reasons for leaving, except to say this: "One other thing happened in L.A., as I got physically fit, my mind also got fit, I started asking a lot of questions. And I started to look at myself as a person. That begged another question: What would my life be without swimming? It's been a security net for me. But what it's meant is I haven't balanced out my life the way I should. So I realized I had to prove other things and let swimming take a back seat at this stage. I'm looking at a next phase, and that next phase means I am realigning the most important thing for me to do."
One poster on a Sydney Daily Telegraph blog called Thorpe a "drama queen. He calls a press conference and gives such a long winded explanation of his trial and tribulations to come to this 'very hard' decision. ... Get a real job for the next 30 years!" But the majority of posters congratulated Thorpe on an awesome career.
Then there was Jon Hand (a guy, I assume), who wrote: "All I hope is now that he has some more time he comes to Bondi beach and does a little swimming in his Speedos. God, he is gorgeous and I just love everything about him. Ian Thorpe u rock my world!" --Jim Buzinski
11.20.2006
Please, No Rematch: After this weekend's college football action, Ohio State and Michigan remain 1-2 in the BCS standings, which will determine which two teams play for the national title. Uh, how could Michigan still be No. 2 when the Wolverines lost Saturday, 42-39, to Ohio State? This points out the utter stupidity of big-time college football, the only sport in the world not decided by a fair system, like a playoff.
How could a team that lost its final regular season game still be alive to play for the title? Given the system in place, when a team loses is meaningful, like it or not. I agree with Florida coach Urban Meyer, whose Gator team is one of several one-loss teams that could be screwed by the BCS. "If [a rematch] does happen, all the [university] presidents need to get together immediately and put together a playoff system," he said. "I mean like now, January or whenever to get that done."
The team with the best chance of overtaking Michigan in the BCS, which combines human polls and computers, is Southern Cal, which plays Notre Dame this week. A Trojans win and one a week later over UCLA would probably be enough to boost USC. But this could still leave one-loss Florida or Arkansas or West Virginia out of the picture. Only a diehard Wolverine fan could argue that Michigan deserves a second chance after its highly touted defense was shredded on Saturday. --Jim Buzinski
11.18.2006
And through The Wire: I've not watched a second of HBO's series The Wire, but members of the NFL Baltimore Ravens and other pro athletes sure have. The series
is billed as a realistic, gritty crime drama set in Baltimore and it's been a critical favorite since its debut. According to this interesting ESPN.com column,
about half the Ravens squad watches the show, in addition to athletes from other sports and the most interesting aspect is how they react to the character of
Omar Little.
Omar's gay, it seems and very, very handy with a shotgun. Ravens wide receiver Derrick Mason says "The thing is that's such a small
portion of who Omar is. He is respected because he is tough, he doesn't take any stuff from anybody and he doesn't apologize for anything that he does or who
he is". Ah, the old "being gay is not really important to how a person conducts their life" thing.
ESPN's writer LZ Granderson asks the logical follow up to
that line of question: if they're cool with a character on a TV show being gay, what about a teammate? It all boils down to having to shower with a guy who
might look at their dick for Cleveland Cavaliers guard Larry Hughes, it seems.
A slightly more evolved view comes from Ravens linebacker Bart Scott: "All I care about
is, 'Can he help me win football games? Can he help me win a Super Bowl?'". I've long suspected that most pro athletes would get over their fear of their
schlong being looked at by another man for anything more than comparison purposes if that guy could hit .350 with 50 homeruns or scored 30 points a game consistently, but there's been no real real
way to prove that to date.
Finally, Mr. Granderson nails what I've long thought of why so many straight men, not just athletes, have problems with gay
men: "I came away with the feeling that male athletes aren't opposed to gay teammates simply because they are gay. It's because they perceive them as being
weak, and they may continue to believe that until a gay athlete finally comes out during his playing career". Overall, a nice read from Mr. Granderson and a
nice change of pace from the usual nonsense they have in their online columns *cough* Bill Simmons *cough*
Balls: Sunday is the two year
anniversary of the ugly brawl between the Indiana Pacers, Detroit Pistons and fans in Auburn Hills, Michigan. I've long wondered what touched off what
started out as pretty routine shoving match during an NBA game. Thanks to the great The Smoking Gun, we now have a hint: it was then Pacer Ron
Artest, who was lying on the scorers table after initiating the scuffle with the Pistons Ben Wallace, yelling "You can suck my balls" at Wallace that did the
trick. Lovely.
Bo: On the eve of the huge Michigan v. Ohio State game that could determine the college football championship comes the sad
news that Michigan coaching Bo Schembechler collapsed and died of heart failure during the taping of a TV show. He had a history of heart trouble, including
suffering an attack the night before he coached Michigan in the 1970 Rose Bowl, losing to USC 10-3. RIP, Mr. Schembechler. I wonder if the Ohio State fans
who have a "Wolverine hatecore" punk band called The Dead Schembechlers are going to change their name? --Jim Allen
11.17.2006
Money, it's a hit: Obviously, being a professional athlete is one of the best legal ways to make huge, vast piles of money in a fairly short time. I certainly don't begrudge the salaries athletes make; we live in a capitalist-ish society, for good or ill, and if owners are dumb enough to pay crappy shortstops who hit .240 $8 million a year (note: I don't have anyone specific in mind, just throwing figures out there), then so be it.
What prompted those thoughts was the news that the World Series winning St. Louis Cardinals get to split a record $20.2 million for routing the Detroit Tigers in October. The team decides how to split the money; it's usually done on a full share - half share - cash payout basis. The Cardinals voted 48 people full shares, meaning that person pocketed $362,173. Not bad work if you can get it, eh?
The money is revenue generated mainly through the sale of tickets during the playoffs, which are sold at highly inflated prices. How does this years payout stack up historically? For comparison, the last time the Cardinals won the World Series, in 1982, a full share was worth $43,280 (that's roughly $88,000 in today's money). As the great O'Jays song For the Love of Money says "For a small piece of paper/it carries a lot of weight".
Fear of Flying: I hate flying and am dreading getting on a plane to visit my parents next week. After reading about this, I'm even more wary. The Cory Lidle "Baseball player dies in plane crash in NYC" story got a bit weirder this week.
In addition to Lidle, Tyler Strange died when their plane crashed in to an apartment building in Manhattan. Two men from the mountains of Southern California were invited to be on that plane too, Bob Cartwright and Rod Watkins, both of who couldn't make it.
On Tuesday of this week, Cartwright died when the small plane he was a passenger on crashed in to the shoreline of Big Bear Lake, in Southern California's skiing area. The plane was headed to Las Vegas, and once again, Mr. Watkins was invited but couldn't go. Yikes. Perhaps Mr. Watkins should never set foot on a small plane again. Oh, and enjoy your Thanksgiving weekend plane flights! --Jim Allen
11.16.2006
Cards Apologize for Screwup: The Arizona Cardinals are 1-8 and have lost eight in a row, and now the team has a major black eye for screwing up a tribute to the late Pat Tillman. The team's sound system broke down Sunday while showing tributes to Tillman, a former Cardinals player who became a hero when he quit the NFL and joined the military. He was killed two years ago in Afghanistan from "friendly fire."
"Our intent was to provide a very special tribute to Pat, and in the end we did not do that. We regret that very much," a team statement said. The team unveiled a 500-pound sculpture of Tillman in front of the team's new stadium in Glendale, Ariz. Fans on the Arizona Republic's website figured the Tillman sound snafu was par for the course. "This is just icing on the cake," one poster wrote. "Glendale spent millions and the sound system has the speaker system from a Toyota Tercel." Wrote another: "It typical Cardinals isn't it! This team's management can't do anything right!"--Jim Buzinski
Out Games Folo: The Montreal Gazette editorialized about the large deficit facing the Out Games:
It's all becoming so depressingly familiar. Montreal plays host to an international sporting event; the organizers make all sorts of cheerful predictions about how they'll be able to raise more than enough money from ticket sales and sponsorships to cover their expenses; and then boom, the final accounting comes in and the taxpayers are once again on the hook for millions.
It happened with the World Aquatic Championships in 2005, which city taxpayers had to bail out at the last minute with $4 million. And now it turns out that the 2006 Outgames are $5.3 million in the red.
The Quebec government has already forgiven the Games a $1.4-million line of credit, which still leaves organizers owing $3.5 million to the city of Montreal, Tourisme Montreal and the business community. That's pretty discouraging for an event that was supposed to be deficit-proof. As recently as July 26 -- the day the Games opened -- CEO Louise Roy was insisting: "We have already achieved the point of profitability." How, then, did this happen?
There's really no excuse for this kind of irresponsibility in a city and a province that should have learned all there is to know about cost overruns from the 1976 Olympics. But ad-hoc bailouts appear to have become the norm. Organizers know all they have to do to get worried politicians to reach into our pockets is whine about what a terrible blow it would be to the city's or the province's reputation should their event be cancelled.
11.15.2006
A Bronze for Gay Lifter: Chris Morgan, a Gay Games Powerlifting champion, has won a bronze medal at the World
Drug-Free Powerlifting Championships in Ireland. This goes along with the gold he won at last year's event. Morgan completed
lifts of 462 pounds in the squat, 264 pounds in bench press anf 506 pounds in deadlift for a total of 1,232 pounds at a
bodyweight of 149.5 pounds.
"I feel privileged to have represented my country for the seventh time and in winning my
10th international medal in powerlifting," said Morgan, who lives in London. "It's disappointing not to retain the world
championship, but a blessing to once again reach the podium in the world dinal. It's been a very successful 12 months, with
five gold medals and one bronze medal in total. I would like to thank the Federation of Gay Games for their continued support
and their commitment to delivering the quadrennial Gay Games. The [English] Football Association and my kit sponsors Umbro
for their support and commitment to removing Homophobia from [soccer]. I'm very much looking forward to working with these
organizations in 2007 and again challenging for the world drug-free powerlifting championship."
Long Time: The
New England Patriots play at the Green Bay Packers on Sunday. Being in separate conferences, the teams rarely play each
other. But I was still astonished to see that this is New England's first time to Green Bay since 1979. Patriots quarterback
Tom Brady was just 2 at the time. --Jim Buzinski
11.14.2006
Out Games a Financial Loser: Memo to Montreal -- NEVER hold a major international multisport event again. In 1976, the Summer Olympics nearly were ruined forever when Montreal incurred a huge debt in staging them. Thirty years later, history repeated itself when the Quebec government announced that this summer's initial Outgames lost an astonishing $5.3 million Canadian (equals $4.6 million US). The total is astonishing since organizers had confidently predicted a $200,000 surplus as soon as the Games ended. We also now know that the government had to bail out the organizers to ensure the Games would not be canceled a week before their July 29 opening.
"Quebec Municipal Affairs Minister Nathalie Normandeau says she's disappointed with the outcome, especially as the province gave organizers more than $3 million. Organizers initially announced a $200,000 surplus but an auditor hired by the Quebec government found the Games were actually in the red," Canadian Press reported.
Jonathan Trudeau, Normandeau's spokesman, confirmed that Quebec has forgiven a $1.4-million loan to the Outgames to help the event pay off its other creditors and suppliers, CP reported. But the bailout still leaves Outgames organizers $3.5 million in debt to the city of Montreal, Tourism Montreal and the business community, Trudeau said. A week before the event began, organizers pleaded with the government for more money, and a loan was floated, Trudeau said. "They said they had a short-term cash flow problem that could jeopardize the event," he told the Montreal Gazette. "That's why the government got involved. Imagine the impact on Montreal's reputation if the event were canceled at the last minute."
According to media reports, the loss was not due to fraud but rather to the fact that fewer athletes and spectators attended than organizers had hoped for. For example, only 3,000 tickets were sold of the 35,000 for the closing ceremonies. "There are no regrets about the games," Marielle Dupere, co-chair, said. "Montreal needs this kind of international event to position itself in the market," she said. She said that the Outgames owe $2.2 million to various suppliers and blamed the government for paying off the big ticket items (like stadium fees) first and leaving small suppliers vulnerable.
I'm sorry, but those comments are nothing but major spin that would do a politician proud. Montreal was already a world-class city and didn't need to position itself with anyone. Try telling Montreal taxpayers that they should be happy forking over a couple of million for an event that was promised to make money. It calls into serious question the planned 2009 Out Games in Copenhagen, Denmark, unless the Danish government is willing to spend millions in subsidies. Staging such games simply isn't viable without huge sponsorships or government money.
Gay Games VII organizers in Chicago are still in their final auditing stage, and while they had predicted a surplus or to break even, they were still $200,000 in the red as of late October and trying to close the gap. A donor offered $100,000 if the organizers could raise a matching $100,000. They are still $35,000 short of this goal. The Gay Games got no government money and instead relied heavily on sponsors. A final audit on the Gay Games is expected soon.--Jim Buzinski
11.13.2006
College football's last month: Thanks a lot, Louisville. By losing to Rutgers, you totally messed up college football's Bowl Championship Series and left one of the two spots wide open. With the Cardinals losing and with unbeaten Ohio State and Michigan playing each other this week, the championship game will likely have only one unbeaten team. I know that both Boise State and Rutgers are unbeaten, but in the stupid world of the BCS, neither has any shot at playing for the title.
The big beneficiary was USC, which jumped to third in the standings by beating Oregon. The Trojans (8-1) have three tough games left -- Cal, Notre Dame and UCLA -- and if they win all three they are virtually certain to play the Ohio State-Michigan winner for the title. Of course, it's silly that a slew of one-loss teams will have to watch a USC play for it all when they have as much claim. It's long past time for a 16-team college football playoff, but as I've written before, this has little chance of being implemented.
Bikini golf caddies: Paul McNamee is trying to jazz up the Australian Open golf tournament, but he denied one charge, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. "I've had people come up to me saying absurd things like, 'I've heard you're going to have girls in bikinis caddying for the players'," he said. "That's just ridiculous. Have you ever tried to find 100 swimsuit models strong enough to carry those heavy bags around for four days? I have and it's just not feasible." At least he tried. --Jim Buzinski
11.11.2006
The San Francisco 49ers of Santa Clara: As a California > Anaheim Angels fan, I've been deeply embarrassed by owner Arte Moreno's renaming the team Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for marketing purposes. When something becomes the butt of jokes with Jay Leno, you know you can't go any lower. I'd now like to welcome 49ers fans to the lower depths of being a sports fan.
I've only been to Candlestick Park > whatever the hell it's called now once, for a Giants game in the early 90's. I thought the stadium was a pit, and almost getting blown off the upper deck by a gust of wind as I was descending the aisle to get to my seat didn't improve my opinion. For at least a decade, the five-time Super Bowl champion San Francisco 49ers have been trying to get a football-only replacement stadium with a retail/housing development surrounding it built at the Candlestick Point site. On Thursday, the team officially gave up on that plan.
I'm a huge opponent of using taxpayer money to pay for sports stadiums. In only a few instances has the promised the stadium kick-started redevelopment, the main way they are sold to the public (Coors Field in Denver is one of the few, I believe). In the stories I read about this, the price tag for just the stadium would have been borne by the team/NFL. However, the Candlestick area is pretty remote and would need massive road and transportation improvements to make playing 10 times a year in a 80,000 seat stadium viable.
Additionally, the team wants the stadium open by 2012 and since the project still needs approval by the various agencies involved --always a nightmare, always complicated and always taking longer than planned-- that date seemed unlikely to be met. It also seems that the city of San Francisco wanted to put whether to help pay for those improvements on the ballot for a vote and that might have been the deal breaker. The team won approval of public money via the ballot box back in 1997, but that particular project languished.
So here they are, the 49ers, storied NFL franchise, proposing to move 40 miles south to Santa Clara. Santa Clara officials are positively giddy about the prospect of the 49ers moving to their town; the team already has their offices and practice facility there. I just get a bad vibe about the whole thing and wonder if, providing I'm still writing for Jock Talk in 2012, I'll be writing a story about how the city of Santa Clara got fleeced by the fleece-meisters when it comes to strong-arming municipalities to help fund stadiums, the NFL. --Jim Allen
11.10.2006
Rutgers rules: I have zero interest in college football, mainly because I watch English league football on Fox Soccer Channel on Saturdays and can't
be bothered to follow it on the Internets. However, on Thursday night, when I got home from work, I flipped on ESPN to catch what was left of the Louisville
v. Rutgers game. I'm glad I did.
How bizarre is it that the Louisville Cardinals, normally known for their basketball teams, were ranked #3 coming in to the game? A lot. How much weirder was it that Rutgers, who are basically known sports-wise for their men's lacrosse team and maybe men's basketball, were ranked #15 and are being seriously talked about as a lower-level bowl contender? A lot. But there they were, playing before a packed house in Piscataway, New Jersey, in maybe the most important game in either football team's history.
It was quite a game, from the bit I saw, and Louisville players and their fans are going to have nightmares for years about this one. Leading 25-14 at halftime thanks to a 100-yard kickoff return by Jajuan Spillman, the Cardinals utterly collapsed and ended up losing 28-25 to all but end their hopes of making the BCS title game. In one wild sequence lasting about two minutes in the first quarter, Rutger's quarterback Mike Teel had a pass picked off, his opposite number for Louisville, Brian Brohm, returned the favor, Teel threw a 26-yard TD pass to Tiquan Underwood and Spillman made a great series of moves for his 100-yard scamper. Whew!
The final sequence of the game had me laughing. Jim B. and Cyd are always whining about the real football (i.e. soccer) ending important matches with penalty kicks. I retort "Oh, yeah, and Americanized rugby matches being decided by a small kicker is so much better". Sure enough, a small kicker was the deciding factor for Rutgers.
It was very similar to what happened to Washington Redskins kicker Nick Novak last weekend against the Dallas Cowboys. Dorky Jeremy Ito pooched his 33-yeard kick wide with 18 seconds to go, but in another Louisville nightmare inducer, the Cardinals were offside on the play courtesy of William Gay. Ito buried the 28-yard retry, Brohm got sacked on the final play and Rutgers fans stormed the field. I can now go back to ignoring college football with a good conscience. --Jim Allen
11.9.2006
Politics and Sports: Tuesday's midterm election wasn't too kind to athletes who wanted to be elected. In Pennsylvania, Hall of Fame wide receiver Lynn Swann was drubbed in his race for governor by Ed Rendell. Swann did as well as his Pittsburgh Steelers (2-6) are doing this season. In Kansas, U.S. Rep. Jim Ryun, a great middle-distance runner from the 1960s, was upset in his bid for reelection by a relatively unknown Democrat he outspent 10-1. And in Maryland, Mike Tyson's endorsement of Republican Senate candidate Michael Steele didn't help him as Steele went down to defeat. Tyson was married to Steele's half-sister, Monica Turner.
The common thread in these races was that all the losing candidates were Republican in a year when Democrats swept to power in the House and Senate. The lone Democratic jock who ran fared much better. Former Washington Redskins quarterback Heath Shuler defeated incumbent Rep. Charles Taylor for a North Carolina congressional seat. Shuler, a first-round draft choice, was an NFL bust. His win prompted MSNBC's Keith Olbermann to quip: "That's the first time he's completed anything."
The Los Angeles Times ran a list of well-known athletes who gave to politicans this year. Hank Aaron gave $300 to Democratic New York Sen. Hillary Clinton (a winner); Andre Agassi gave $4,200 to Indepenent Sen. Joe Lieberman (a winner); Arizona basketball coach Lute Olson ($4,200) and race driver Marion Andretti ($250) gave to Republican Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum (a loser); former Pittsburgh Steeler running backl Franco Harris gave $2,000 to Santorum's winning opponent Bob Casey Jr.; former Cleveland Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar gave $4,200 to Republican Sen. Mike DeWine (a loser); and Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning gave $2,000 to Republican Bob Corker, who won the open Senate race in Tennessee. --Jim Buzinski
11.8.2006
Sig Heil!: It's probably not the best idea to play a speech by Adolf Hitler to motivate your team, but that's what Forestview High School in Gastonia, N.C., did prior to a boys soccer playoff game. A 90-second portion of a speech by Hitler was played on the P.A. system prior to the game with Charlotte Catholic, the Charlotte Observer reported.
"We were warming up," said Catholic coach Gary Hoilett, "and all of us stopped and looked up at the booth. We were just real shocked. It was obviously a Hitler speech. The voice was coming across clearly. Everybody knew."
Some Forestview players were also chanting in German, "On to Victory," taught to them by a player who is a German exchange student. Hoilett, who is black, said that during the game some Forestview players directed racial epithets at his two black players, the paper reported. "It was one of the worst things I've seen," Hoilett said of the speech and the racial epithets.
Forestview later faxed a letter of apology to Charlotte Catholic officials. As punishment, I would force the entire Forestview athletic department and the soccer team and coaches to watch the nine-hour "Sorrow and the Pity," which chroncles Nazi crimes during WWII.
A Kick to the Groin: Tyler Brayton of the Oakland Raiders was caught on camera Monday night kneeing Seattle Seahawks tight end Jerramy Stevens in the groin. He could face a suspension, but Raiders coach Art Shell is pleading extenuating circumstances. "Tyler was reacting to someone trying to kick him in the groin area," Shell said Tuesday. "So there was a reaction to that. Sometimes when there's pushing and shoving, you might not react. But when that happens, guys will react and he did. There will be something. What it is, I don't know. Could be a fine. Hopefully that's all it will be. Then we'll go from there."
Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said Stevens' foot was extended but in no way was trying to kick Brayton. "It wasn't anything close to resembling what actually occurred, afterward ...," Holmgren said. "If you look at the film, I think it's pretty clear that's not what happened." --Jim Buzinski
11.7.2006
Keep Your Eyes on Your Balls: Tennis player Elena Dementieva is not happy about the use of male models as ball boys at this week's WTA Championships in Madrid. The problem? They pay too much attention to the female players.
"We were practicing the other day and I don't think they really know what they have to do on the court because they are too busy watching the players," the 25-year-old Russian told Reuters. "We'll have to see if it will work out or not but I think it will be a distraction for them to do their job," she said. "I don't think that they realize what they have let themselves in for and that they will have to be very careful about what they are doing on the court. The players are so focused and sometimes they get crazy with the ball boys so they don't know what they will be facing in a couple of days," she said.
The male models are being used after the Madrid tournament was criticized for using female models as ball girls at its men's event. Seven were picked this spring by a panel that included Maria Sharapova. One said his favorite player was Amelie Mauresmo, an open lesbian.
Kim Clijsters was more accepting of the new ball boys. "I was talking to Maria [Sharapova] in the taxi and she said they looked nice," the world No. 6 said. "I'm excited about it, although it is going to be strange. As long as they do a good job, that is all that matters."
Of course, what would be a lot more fun would be using male models at men's events and female models at women's events. Then we would see who was looking at whom. --Jim Buzinski
11.6.2006
Book Praise: Patricia Nell Warren's "The Lavender Locker Room," a collection of her essays for Outsports, continues to get excellent reviews. A Top 100 reviewer on Amazon.com had high praise.
"The Lavender Locker Room shows her at her informal best and is more akin to sitting across the table from the lady as she ruminates on what it means to be both athlete and homosexual, contemplating past and present, shifting easily between mythology, rumor, and hard fact," Gary F. Taylor wrote. "The result is as entertaining as it is informative--and, like most of Warren's writings, will no doubt light a fire under the backside of those who have never examined gender stereotypes. Warren opens with reflections on The Iliad's ancient tale of Achilles and Patroclus, indicating the nature of male sexuality in the ancient world (and taking a few swipes at such films as TROY, which go into over-drive to avoid the homo-eroticism involved.) More particularly, however, Warren offers the story to make a very interesting point: sports as we now think of them arose from the military."
BCS Doings: Hard as it is to believe, the Louisville Cardinals are poised to play in college football's national title game. The unbeaten Cardinals are third in the Bowl Championship Series standings and have three of their four games left against teams with winning records. Should the Cardinals win out, they will almost certainly pass either No. 1 Ohio State or No. 2 Michigan, since these two teams play each other Nov. 18.
While all this is exciting for Louisville fans, it once again points up the absurdity of major college football not having a playoff. One-loss teams like Florida, Auburn and Cal (to name three) are excellent teams, but should Louisville go unbeaten, will have virtually no chance at playing for the title. The lack of a playoff is one reason why the college game can't hold a candle to the NFL. --Jim Buzinski
11.4.2006
Quick hits: Some of the factors of New York Yankee's pitcher Cory Lidle's fatal plane crash in to a Manhattan apartment building in October were revealed on Friday. The National Transportation Safety Board, who have the lovely job of doing forensics at plane crashes, said that a light wind blew the small plane that Lidle and flight instructor Tyler Stanger off of their course up the East River between Manhattan and Queens. Add in the fact that the two were trying to make a U-turn in too confined a space and you have a recipe for tragedy. The NTSB report was outling information that they've gleaned so far and will issue a full report at a later date. *Sigh* plane crashes.
On a lighter note, a story from Bulgaria has me marveling again at how completely pro leagues and teams control most of their players' lives. It seems that 19-year old Ivelin Popov, a football (i.e. soccer) player for Litex Lovech, has agreed to a demand by the club that he marry his current girlfriend so that he'll curb his wild ways. Ignoring the fact that marriage most certainly not = calming down in all cases (see: Garvey, Steve; impregnating half of San Diego County in the 1980's), it's a little sad to see a player buckle under to such a bizarre request. Rumor has it that a certain Anaheim Angels player told management in no uncertain terms to get stuffed when they asked him to marry his pregnant girlfriend because some fans were shocked that in 2005, players had sex before marriage and it sometimes *gasp* produced a child.
--Jim Allen
11.3.2006
Gay sheep: No, no, I'm not talking about all the guys in gay ghettos who look exactly the same, as if cut out from some mold and manufactured in China for export. This story from a devoted reader of Jock Talk is about real sheep, as in the wooly animals that became the title of a great Pink Floyd song on their Animals album. The gay tie in to the little critters? Martina Navratilova.
It seems that researchers at Oregon State University and Oregon Health & Science University use sheep to experiment about changing animals' sexual orientation. Of course, the science of it isn't pretty from the sheeps' perspective: this involves brains being cut open, having hormonal secreting devices implanted in their bodies and other such things that are staples of movies like Saw.
In conjunction with PETA
(People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), Martina has written to the OSU and OHSU asking them to stop the "homophobic and cruel experiments". Of course, the nature v. nurture debate about homosexuality is a contentious one, and while I have not a scintilla of doubt that I was born a man lovin' man, it'd be cool if there was scientific verification of that, just so I can tell people who claim that having a weak dad and strong mom caused me to be a polesmoker to shut the hell up. And while I'm not totally opposed to animal testing --sometimes, it's simply unavoidable in finding out whether new drugs or chemicals are viable-- the poor sheep in this case seem to be getting a raw
deal.
There's huge public policy implications in the research, obviously, and since it's taxpayer funded, open to criticism on that grounds alone. The spectre of ghastly Josef Mengele-type experiments on humans is also a very real one, as well. It's one of the standard questions most GLBT people are asked: if you could take a pill and become straight, would you? It's a stupid premise, of course, because if homophobia were stamped out, it would be a moot point. In any case, a world where I wouldn't lust after Jim Thome or Brandon Stokely or David Eckstein is not really a world I'd want to live in anyway. --Jim Allen
11.2.2006
They Hate Each Other: The best rivalry in the NFL these days is between the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts, two elite teams who meet Sunday in Foxboro, Mass. The Patriots (6-1) are trying to knock the 7-0 Colts from the ranks of the unbeaten. The fun part is how the two organizations hate each other.
Two weeks ago, the Pats formally asked the league to ensure the safety of its employees from Colts President Bill Polian. This was in response to a report of Polian shoving a New York Jets official into a wall during a confrontation earlier this season; Polian later apologized. Last year, when the Colts finally beat the Patriots after four high-profile losses, Polian was heard to yell "Break his leg," about Pats backup quarterback Doug Flutie late in the game.
For his part, Polian is among those pissed that New England Coach Bill Belichick lists half the team on the official injury report each week, even though most might only have hurt feelings. For Sunday's game, New England lists 17 players as questionable (50-50 chance of playing) and quarterback Tom Brady as probable. Brady has been on the report for something like last the last two seasons and has never missed a game. In response, 17 Colts are listed as questionable, including their kicker, punter and best pass rusher. They have as much chance of not playing as Polian does of singing the Patriots' fight song.
The Long Slog: The NBA tipped off its season in earnest Wednesday, but excuse me if it's hard to get excited. The season lasts an eternity -- 82 games plus four rounds of playoffs -- and won't end for almost eight months. Only NBA diehards can get into a November matchup between the Pacers and the Bobcats.
The long NBA season, and the equally absurd NHL season (which started a month ago), make it hard for either sport to truly break through until their playoffs. There's nothing ever special about an NBA regular season game. In contrast, baseball has a long tradition of 162 games and only four teams per league make the playoffs, versus double that in basketball and hockey. The NFL, being a once-a-week venture, has the schedule most adaptable to the modern world, where YouTube,the Internet and 200 TV channels give us all sorts of distractions. If I was sports czar, the NBA and NHL would not start until after the new year and end by May 1. The World Series would end by Oct. 15 and the Super Bowl would still be held in January. --Jim Buzinski
11.1.2006
Heat ice-cold in opener. The Miami Heat suffered the worst season-opening-game for a defending champion in the history of the NBA. The Chicago Bulls took care of business in Miami on opening night, beating the Heat on the road, 108-66. The 42-point loss by far eclipsed the next-closest opening-night loss by a defending champ, a 15-point loss by the Los Angeles Lakers at the hands of the Golden State Warriors in 1982.
At least the Heat got their rings before the game. If the NBA had waited until after the game, they may have gotten confused and given them to the Bulls. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
Thank heavens I have 30 days off. Jim and I trade turns writing for jock talk from month to month. And I'm thankful I don't have November. The start of the NBA and NHL seasons just don't have a lot of luster; the NFL is in its blah mid-season weeks, college football doesn't get exciting anymore until December, and golf and tennis are essentially closed for the season. Good luck, Jim! Hopefully John Rocker will surface and open his mouth again. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
10.31.2006
PTI and Brokeback Cowboys: For the second week in a row, Pardon The Interruption's Monday night installment started with some pretty gay comments.
At the end of the Sunday night game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Carolina Panthers, victorious head coach Bill Parcells seemed to be shot by Cupid's arrow as he started kissing his players and putting his arms around them. It was a display of pure emotion as Parcells had brought his team all the way back from a devastating Monday Night Football loss just six nights earlier.
The PTI hosts saw it and had this to say:
Mike Wilbon: Tony, your boy Bill Parcells lost his mind and turned into the kissing bandit last night. Tony Kornheiser: I haven't seen that many Cowboys kissing since Brokeback Mountain. I have not. Wilbon: Ooh, ooh. I don't think the 'Boys with the star on the side of the helmet would like that analogy. Kornheiser: Really? Well, they're going to have to live with it. Wilbon: All the nuzzlin' and huggin' and kissin' and whew, get a room. Hey. Kornheiser: Gonna need more than one room.
Let the hype begin: With the New England Patriots' dispatching of the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football, 31-7, the League's attention now turns to the upcoming Sunday night match-up between the Indianapolis Colts and the New England Patriots.
By all accounts, these are the best two teams in the AFC. They have the two best records, the rivalry has become one of the best in the NFL, and the series between the two teams has been dominated by the Patriots since Bill Belichick and Tom Brady teamed up in 2001.
Still, the last meeting was won in Foxboro by the Colts, so the idea that they can't win at New England is long gone. For those who don't like either team, this will be a tough week to handle; for those (like Jim and me) who are big fans of one team over the other, it'll be the best game between now and if they meet up again in the playoffs. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
10.30.2006
NBA loses a visionary in Red Auerbach: Boston Celtics legendary coach Arnold "Red" Auerbach died Saturday, just four days before the start of the 2006 NBA season. He was 89. Auerbach's contributions to the Celtics, the NBA, and basketball itself, run deep. With Phil Jackson, he holds the record for the most NBA championships (nine); He drafted the first black player to play in the NBA (Chuck Cooper in 1950); He was the first to have an all-black starting lineup in the NBA; He named Bill Russell his successor at the helm of the Celtics, making Russell the first black head coach of a major American pro sports team; He established the foundation of the greatest team in the history of the NBA (The Celtics, which have won 16 NBA titles), and only the unnatural death of Len Bias in 1986 seems to have undermined what could have been even more championships; and all of this was done before he retired from coaching at the rip old age of 49.
It was in large thanks to Red Auerbach that I became a sports fan in the first place. The patriarch of the success of the Boston Celtics from the '50s to the '80s, Auerbach created a winning environment in New England (where I grew up) that made it hard to not be a basketball, and specifically a Celtics, fan.
It's always sad when a sport loses someone with a vision and a voice who helped open doors to minorities and the disenfranchised. Auerbach will be missed and remembered for decades to come. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
10.28.2006
Weeeee are the Chaaaaaampions of the Wor....erm, the United States: Capping off a fairly dull major league baseball playoffs, the St. Louis Cardinals brushed aside the Detroit Tigers on Friday, 4-2, to win their tenth World Seris title. Again, the Tigers fielding let them down, as two of the Cardinals four runs were unearned due to errors. There was *another* error by a Tigers pitcher, too; they should hold hours of drills next spring training.
Good for the Redbirds. They played their first season in their new ballpark and almost gave their passionate fans a collective heart attack by playing like crap down the stretch and almost losing their division, but they pulled it together when it counted. The Tigers looked overmatched but more than anything, they couldn't hit when it mattered. I wonder if the long layoff between their ALCS win and the World Series had any affect?
The Cardinals were sort of a Midwestern outpost of former Angels, with Jim Edmonds, hottie David Eckstein, 2002 World Series hero Scott Spezio and stoner stiff Jeff Weaver playing on the banks of the Mississippi. Plus, *gasp* they both have red in their uniforms! It must be, like, fate or something.
So, another baseball season comes to a close and to be honest, it's not going to go down as one of the more memorable ones in recent memories. Most of the pennant races were dull, there was no outstanding individual feats and the playoffs contained very few games that were nail-biting, the Cards v. New Yorks Mets NLCS Game 7 being the exception. Sports again becomes kind of a void for me until April, with only English football really getting me going. Go Angels in 2007! --Jim Allen
10.27.2006
Play ball...finally: After Thursday's Game 4 of the World Series, Detroit Tigers fans will probably never want to hear about the weather and baseball ever again. In the first really interesting game of the World Series, the St. Louis Cardinals took command of the series with a 5-4 win, giving the Redbirds a 3-1 series lead. The persistent rains in the St. Louis area were a big factor.
With the Cardinals trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the 7th, Little
David Eckstein, still a hottie, hit what looked like a routine can o' corn to centerfield. Instead, Tigers centerfielder Curtis Granderson slipped on the wet grass while turning to chase the ball and Eckstein ended up at second base. Fox flashed a stat during the game that will baffle baseball historians for years: the Tigers have six errors in four games, four of them by pitchers. How on earth does a pitching staff have a fielding meltdown?
That fourth pitching staff error was disastrous: after Eckstein's "double", the Cardinals So Taguchi bunted. Routine stuff, until Tigers pitcher Fernando Rodney (great name) lobbed the ball about 10 feet over the glove of his first baseman, Sean Casey. Little Eckstein scored and three plays later, so did Taguchi. This just wasn't to be the Tigers night though, because left fielder Craig Monroe came within three inches of making a great catch on a lashing Preston Wilson liner. Alas Tigers fans, it bounced off the tip of his glove and the Cardinals led 4-3.
As an Angels fan, I'm used to baseball-related heartbreak, so
after two doubles by the Tigers in the top of the 8th tied the score at 4-4, there was an air of inevitability that the Cardinals would score again. Sure enough, former Angels shortstop and fan favorite Eckstein hit a legit double to drive in a run in the bottom of the eighth, Cards closer Adam Wainwright blew people away while throwing in the high 90's in the top of the ninth and the Tigers were done.
The weather forecast for Friday in The Gateway City: 90% chance of rain. Although I don't care at all about how it affects Fox' TV schedule --their coverage was as bad as ever Thursday-- I feel sorry for the fans in Detroit who have tickets. If the game is cancelled Friday, that'll push any potential Detroit games back. People have been flying in to St. Louis and Detroit for the games and the rain has played havoc with their plans.
Purdue fans love penises too: Via Deadspin comes a story that warms my heart: people loving a penis. Now, to be fair, it's a large, inflatable plastic one --about 8 inches, cut, I'd say-- and it's batted around like a beachball at Purdue football games, but still. Of course, like the letter writer from Cyd's entry yesterday, some people can't take a joke. At a recent game, a Purdue player was on the field, hurt, when the inflatable schlong appeared and Dustin Meyer, an engineering student, was *not* amused: "Is this how much class we have left, that we are more entertained by an inflatable penis than we are concerned for an injured Boilermaker? If so, then I am embarrassed to call myself a Boilermaker". As a character in Jean Paul Sartre's No Exit declares, "Hell is other people". Right, Mr. Meyer? --Jim Allen
10.26.2006
Yet another reason to ignore baseball: When it rains, the players melt. The fourth game of the World Series was postponed because it was raining in St. Louis. Waaaaaaah, waaaaaaah. We can't go out in the rain. Other sports like soccer and football play in the rain, even though it compromises the quality of play. Why can't baseball? Who cares if the score is 1-0 in the 15th inning. How could would a baseball game in rain or snow be! -Cyd Zeigler jr.
Gay radio host tells us to stop looking at athletes: We got an email on Wednesday from a gay sports-radio host saying that we are jeopardizing the future of his career by posting information, a picture and a link featuring footage, shot by someone else, of an interview in the Philadelphia Eagles locker room in which a naked player passes in front of the camera. The radio host says that by us posting that on Outsports.com, we are reinforcing the stereotype that gay teammates and sports reporters will "check out" naked straight players if they see them in the locker room, thus jeopardizing his career. (Newsflash: Both gay and straight players check each other out in the locker room, gay people don't have a corner on that market.)
When Jim pointed out to him that it was Deadspin, a sports blog run by straight guys, that initially posted the item and where we first saw it, he said that's okay, because they're straight; Only gay people should refrain from posting it.
Every once in a while we hear from gay men who tell us that we're somehow harming gay people in sports by doing exactly what mainstream media outlets do: post pictures and articles with some sex appeal. We also hear from so many others, both gay and straight, about how we're helping to change sports for the better, how we're opening doors and getting people to think. The idea that us looking at pictures of attractive athletes, or posting stories that also appear on mainstream Web sites, somehow injures someone's career or the plight of gay people in sports is absurd. We're going to keep doing what we do, because we know the positive effect we're having on gay people who long ago gave up sports and straight sports people who may not have thought much about gay issues. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
10.25.2006
Naked in the locker room: It's fun to see straight guys gawking at naked athletes. But, it's not surprising to find our ubercool metrosexual friends over at Deadspin hooking us up with some inner-locker-room footage. They hooked us up with a postgame interview of superhottie Philadelphia Eagle defensiveback Sean Considine (one of the few white DBs in the League) in which we get a full-frontal perspective of another Philadelphia Eagle in the background.
The brown stuff won't go away: Smudgegate got a shot in the arm on Tuesday when CNNSI.com's Jon Heyman interviewed an anonymous bullpen coach about the "clump of dirt" on Detroit Tigers pitcher Kenny Rogers' hand in Game 2. Here's some of what he told Heyman:
"It was pine tar. It couldn't be anything else. Pitchers use pine tar, shaving cream and suntan lotion. Pitchers use them to help them grip the ball and make the ball move more. &
"Pine tar is the best, but you have to be careful with it because it's detectable. There are pine tar rags. But usually the pitchers keep the pine tar on their glove. They put it either deep in the pocket or the heel of the glove or inside the glove. Then when they take the glove off, with your index finger, middle finger or thumb, they get the pine tar. &
" "I am guessing Rogers didn't really know how to use pine tar, because he put too much on. It probably spread from his glove to the palm of his hand.
"You have to try to be inconspicuous about it. He probably put the pine tar on the glove but it started to leak and build up on his hand. There was nothing he could do about it. It started to cake up too much. Pine tar also makes a stain on the ball."
In other words: Athletes cheat. Wouldn't it be nice if some of these guys whom our society puts on a pedestal actually played by the rules? My guess is you won't see any "clumps of dirt" on Rogers' hand anymore, even though it's been seen on his hand during every playoff game. -Cyd Zeigler jr
Game 3 is a snoozer. When you're a fan of the team kicking their opponents' collective butt, there's almost nothing better. But when you're just watching the game for some entertainment, there's nothing worse than a blowout. In Game 3 of the World Series, the St. Louis Cardinals dominated the Detroit Tigers, winning the game, 5-0. The Tigers managed only three hits the whole game and now must win one of the next two games in St. Louis. -Cyd Zeigler jr
10.24.2006
Kornheiser is a Cuddler: Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wilbon were in Dallas for Monday's edition of Pardon the Interuption. They started with this cozy banter, celebrating their fifth anniversary together on the show.
Mike Wilbon: "Tony, it's our fifth anniversary today. What should we do to celebrate."
Tony Kornheiser: "I'm Tony Kornheiser. We could cuddle. Huh?"
Wilbon: "Or not."
Kornheiser: "We could cuddle."
Wilbon: "Under the hole in the roof of Texas Stadium? Gotta come up with something better than that."
Kornheiser: "That makes it official. Under the hole in the roof. &Welcome to PTI, my fellow tender lovers."
A very bad decision by Bill Parcells: The blame for the Dallas Cowboys' loss on Monday Night Football rests squarely on the shoulders of head coach Bill Parcells. At halftime, down 12-7 to the New York Giants, Parcells opted to switch quarterbacks from Drew Bledsoe to Tony Romo. Romo has never started a game in the NFL. He started the second half of their game by throwing an interception that the Giants quickly turned into a 12-point lead. Romo proceeded to throw two more interceptions, one of which was the nail in the Cowboys' coffin, en route to looking absolutely terrible at times behind center. The Cowboys lost the game, 36-22.
I don't know if the Cowboys would have won the game had Bledsoe been the quarterback, but I can virtually guarantee that he wouldn't have handed the ball to the Giants in the Cowboys red zone on the first play of the second half. And with LaVar Arrington out for the second half with an injury, after getting a safety, Bledsoe likely would have had a slightly easier time of it in the second half than he did in the first half.
The switch to Romo at halftime smacks of an overly emotional decision. Bledsoe threw a terrible interception on second down within the five-yard line 90 seconds before halftime, and that must have stung Parcells. It was a bad decision by Bledsoe, but Parcells may have abandoned any hope for the playoffs by making the switch. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
