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12.31.2002
You?re the Weakest Link ? Goodbye: These guys won?t be in need of unemployment benefits, but there were three more added to the jobless rolls on Monday.
Dave Campo (Dallas Cowboys), Tom Coughlin (Jacksonville Jaguars) and Dick LeBeau (Cincinnati Bengals) were fired by their respective NFL teams after losing seasons. The hot rumored replacement for Campo is Bill Parcells, who has taken two different teams to Super Bowls.
Getting Off Easy: Indiana men?s basketball coach Mike Davis was suspended for one game by the Big Ten for his on-court antics Dec. 21 against Kentucky. Davis acted like a 5-year-old as he ranted and raved at officials for what he thought were bad calls at game?s end.
The Big Ten did not comment on why Davis got only a one-game suspension instead of the possible six. A harsher sentence would have sent a better message that acting like an out-of-control idiot is not the best way to be a role model. This is not Davis? first offense. He was fined $10,000 last season for criticizing officials.
12.30.2002
The NFL Playoffs Begin: There is some nice symmetry to the playoffs in the NFL this year.
We have both New York teams, both Bay Area teams and both Pennsylvania teams. We have both Bays (Green and Tampa). We have three transplants (the Oakland-LA-Oakland Raiders, the Houston Oilers-Tennessee Titans and the Baltimore-Indianapolis Colts. And we have new blood in Atlanta and Cleveland.
How wacky was the season? Sunday in the NFL saw the Jets and Browns get in, which caused the Broncos, Patriots and Dolphins to drop out. We also saw the Saints lose at home to the lowly Panthers and lose a wild card spot.
The biggest loss may have by Green Bay, which was drilled by the Jets, 42-17. The Packers went from having all their playoff games at Lambeau Field (where they are virtually unbeatable) to having to win twice on the road to reach the Super Bowl.
We also had a friend win $250 by betting $10 (at 25-1 odds) that there would not be a touchdown in the Tampa Bay-Chicago game. Tampa won, 15-0, on five field goals. He?s already having a Happy New Year.
12.28.2002
Gone Bowling A year ago, Nebraska played in the Rose Bowl for college football?s national championship and got waxed by Miami. It?s gone downhill from there and Friday the Huskers found themselves in the Independence Bowl (!) against Mississippi. Rose, Independence or Toilet, it doesn?t matter what bowl Nebraska is in these days. Ole Miss, behind Eli Manning?s 313 yards, beat Nebraska 27-23. The loss dropped the Cornhuskers to 7-7, their worst mark since 1961. It ended a remarkable streak of 40 consecutive years with a winning record.
In other bowl action, Kansas State, an 18-point favorite over Arizona State in the always-exciting Holiday Bowl, needed a late rally to pull out a 34-27 win. ? And Oklahoma State beat Southern Mississippi in a bowl game we swear we had never heard of before tonight?the Houston Bowl.
12.27.2002
Watch out for Falling Coaches It wasn?t a good day to be a pro coach in Atlanta. On Thursday, both the coach of the NBA?s Hawks and the NHL?s Thrashers were sacked.
Lon Kruger was dumped by the Hawks after starting 11-16; this in a season where management promised a playoff team.
The Thrashers axed coach Curt Fraser and assistant Tim Bothwell. Fraser, has been head coach of the Thrashers since their inception in
1999.
His disappointing tenure is only, 64-173-31-15.
The Thrashers continue an NHL trend this season of firing coaches. We've watched many teams including Calgary, New Jersey, Dallas,
Philadelphia,
San Jose and Colorado make drastic changes on the bench this
year. And Winter has barely begun.
12.26.2002
For the Eyes: As a holiday treat, check out some of the awesome images we just posted in our Gay Games gallery.
12.25.2002
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!: We are taking a couple of days off, but want to wish all of our terrific readers a happy holiday season and a winning 2003. We hope Santa made all your wishes come true.
12.24.2002
All Talk, No Action: ?Paper champions? is how Pittsburgh Steelers safety Lee Flowers described the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a team that struts and preens (led by the obnoxious Warren Sapp) but generally fails to show up when it counts. Prior to Monday night?s NFL match, the Bucs vowed revenge on Pittsburgh. After all, Tampa was 11-3 and playing at home with the league?s top defense.
But the Bucs got their lunch handed to them by the Steelers, who scored 17 first-quarter points, then let their defense take over. The Steelers overran Tampa?s weak offensive line, recording six sacks and forcing two fumbles and an interception. Tampa was playing without quarterback Brad Johnson, but the way Pittsburgh played defense it wouldn?t have mattered. Flowers gets to gloat and say it ain?t bragging if you can back it up.
With the win, Pittsburgh won the AFC North division. The loss really hurt the Bucs, who now are the NFC?s third seed; if this holds, Tampa will get only one home playoff game before hitting the road to Philadelphia or Green Bay, places they never win at.
12.23.2002
NFL Races Heat Up: Purists sneer at parity in the NFL, the idea that any team can beat any other ?on any given Sunday.? The purists are wrong?we call it equality, not parity, and it?s great if you?re a football fan. With a week to go in the regular season, 11 AFC teams are still battling for four remaining playoff spots. This causes every game to be critical, one reason why the ratings this year are up.
We saw some memorable plays in the NFL this weekend: A record-tying 99-yard touchdown pass from Kansas City?s Trent Green to Marc Boerigter. ? A game-winning 53-yard field goal by Minnesota?s Gary Anderson that literally skimmed the inside of the upright. ? Buffalo punter Brian Moorman (pictured) kicking a team-record 84-yard punt in the winds of Green Bay.
12.21.2002
O-U-C-H: We?ve heard of all sorts of weird sports injuries, but Lionel Letizi?s takes the C-A-K-E. Letizi, a goalie with the Paris Saint-Germain soccer team, hurt his back while trying to pick up a Scrabble piece that fell on the floor. "I completely put my back out," Letizi said on his Web site, according to Bloomberg news. He has missed his team?s last two games. It was not revealed what letter Letizi was trying to retrieve.
Bloomberg recounted these other strange goalie injuries:
--Spain's Santiago Canizares missed this year's World Cup after dropping a bottle of aftershave on his foot and damaging a tendon.
Arsenal goalkeeper David Seaman hurt himself while he reached for his TV remote control and needed surgery.
Wigan's Dave Beasant missed matches after dropping a jar of mayonnaise on his toe.
Liverpool keeper Michael Stensgaard dislocated his shoulder in 1995, trying to catch an ironing board that had slipped from his grasp.
12.20.2002
Bad Heart? Avoid Overtime: British researchers have concluded that soccer shootouts are hazardous to your health. They found that heart attacks increased 25% following England?s 1998 World Cup loss to Argentina in a shootout.
"These findings support the view that heart attacks can be triggered by emotional upset, such as watching your football team lose an important match -- particularly those in which there is a penalty shoot-out," the British Medical Journal said in a statement. We imagine these findings can also translate to fans of other sports, save those of cricket, where the only danger is death by boredom.
Lakers in Free Fall: The biggest story in the NBA this season continues to be the mediocre performance of the three-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers.
In a rematch of last year?s NBA Finals, the New Jersey Nets cruised to a 98-71 over LA, dropping the champs to 10-17 (and 2-12 on the road). The Lakers are 11th in the Western Conference and only eight teams make the playoffs.
12.19.2002
Cut the Ball in Half: A California judge has ruled that the two men who each claim ownership to Barry Bonds? historic 73rd home run ball must sell it and split the proceeds.
``Their legal claims are of equal quality and they are equally entitled to the ball,'' Judge Kevin McCarthy ruled in San Francisco. ``The ball must be sold and divided equally between the parties.'' Alex Popov and Patrick Hayashi each said they owned the ball hit by Bonds last year to set a Major League Baseball home run record. Popov gloved the ball for an instant, but lost it in a melee in the stands and Hayashi wound up with it. This being America, they couldn?t resolve their differences and wound up in court.
The publicity of the court case has made the ball more valuable, experts say, adding that it could fetch between $1.5 million and $2 million.
12.18.2002
Jelena?s Crazy Dad: Teen-age tennis pro Jelena Dokic has a nutcase for a father and Damir Dokic outdid himself in an interview with The Sun newspaper.
Dokic was quoted by the newwspaper as saying that "more than 40% of women in world tennis are lesbians." He then added: "I couldn't stand it if Jelena turned out to be one of them. I'd kill myself." Only Amelie Mauresmo is openly gay on the tour.
His repulsive comments drew this great comeback from Stephen Bierley of the London Guardian: ?Such homophobic rubbish deserves exactly the same contempt that has been poured on to Dokic's thick and paranoid head over the past three or four years, during which time he has served a six-month ban from the courtside for his public tirades, and from whom Jelena has notably distanced herself, particularly this year.?
Damir also doesn?t approve of Jelena, 19, dating Formula One driver Enrique Bernoldi; she has told tour officials not to allow her father in to watch her play. "I don't like him,? Damir said of Bernoldi. ?I hope the relationship doesn't last long. I don't believe it's a serious relationship anyway; if I did I'd do something about it. I hope they split up soon."
If Jelena wants to make her life easier she can always publicly French-kiss a fellow women?s player and see if dear old dad follows through on his threat.
12.17.2002
Remember the Titans: The Tennessee Titans started the NFL season 1-4 and even diehard fans were ready to give up. After Monday night?s 24-7 drubbing of the New England Patriots, though, the Titans have emerged as a potential playoff force. With the win, Tennessee is now 9-5 and has gone 8-1 since its terrible starts. The Titans will be favored to win their last two games (at 6-8 Jacksonville and 4-10 Houston) and have a great shot to be the AFC top seed. This shows how strange the NFL season has become. The Patriots, last year?s Super Bowl darlings, have gone 5-6 since an 3-0 start and look like a team that is spent.
Bure Not Done: Pavel Bure, the New York Rangers? top goal-scoring threat, will not miss the season after all. Bure, who leads the NHL team with 14 goals, underwent surgery on both knees and the damage discovered was less severe than first thought. Bure will rehab and is expected back by the end of January. That?s great news for his legion of gay fans everywhere.
12.16.2002
In the Trophy Case: USC quarterback Carson Palmer was a deserving winner of college football?s Heisman Trophy. Palmer had a great season for the Trojans (32 touchdown passes) and seemed to come out of nowhere in the mind of the public. Any of the runners-up (Willis McGahee or Ken Dorsey of Miami, Brad Banks of Iowa or Larry Johnson of Penn State) would also have been deserving since there was no dominant player this season. Actually, the Heisman is actually the award for the best offensive skill player in the game, not the best player.
A Little Privacy Please: There was an interesting TV moment in Sunday?s Indianapolis-Cleveland NFL game. Cleveland running back Jamel White just had to go, so he went on the sideline with staff members surrounding him. It didn?t stop CBS from showing White shaking out the final drops.
12.14.2002
Not Playing Like Champs: The Los Angeles Lakers have won three straight NBA titles, but they are now closer to a lottery pick in next year's draft than a playoff spot.
After losing at home Friday to the New Orleans Hornets, the Lakers are 9-15 and in last place in their division. For all the talk about Shaquille O'Neal being the savior, the Lakers are only 6-6 since he returned from toe surgery. The players are feuding and the team looks out of sync. While there's still plenty of time for the Lakers to regroup, their current woes can't be dismissed as mere bordeom--this is a team in trouble.
12.13.2002
After Further Review: The NFL hates admitting mistakes by its officials, so it was unusual to see it admit to nine of them in one game. The league sent a confidential letter to the Minnesota Vikings, leaked to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, that said officials blew nine calls in Sunday?s 26-22 Viking loss to the Green Bay Packers. Eight of the errors came in the fourth quarter, when the Packers erased a nine-point Minnesota lead. The worst was a pass intereference call on the Vikings that negated an interception with about two minutes to play. Had the interception stood, Minnesota would have likely been able to run out the clock and win the game. ?It doesn't matter what they say after the fact," said Corey Chavous, the player wrongly flagged for interference. "We lost the game."
12.12.2002
Pack Honors AIDS Activist: A reader alerted us to this nice feel-good story from Green Bay, where the Packers gave its Community Quarterback Award and $10,000 to Troy Tyloch, a longtime AIDS activist. Tyloch accepted the award on behalf of the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin.
Tyloch, who himself is HIV-positive, has dedicated over 10,000 hours of volunteer time to the ARCW, helping more than 200 infected people cope with the ramifications of the HIV disease, according to Packers.com. "I didn't do this for an award," he said. "I did this for myself to share what I know and just to show that there is life after AIDS -- a short life, but it can be a very worthwhile life."
We don?t know if Tyloch is gay and we don?t care, but it?s nice to see an NFL team do something laudable for a part of its community that would have been ignored in the past. Are you listening Garrison Hearst and Jeremy Shockey?
12.11.2002
A Deserving Sportsman: Cyclist Lance Armstrong, who battled testicular cancer and conquered the Tour de France four years in a row, was named as Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated. It was a deserving award for Armstrong, who has been an outspoken advocate for cancer survivors.
Bobble This: In contrast to Lance Armstrong?who represents all that is good in sports?we have Dennis Franchione, the slimeball who bolted Alabama to coach the Texas A&M football team. This is the same Franchione who begged Crimson Tide players to stick it out despite the school being on probation, yet who took the money and ran the first chance he got.
Some Tide fans are finding a creative outlet for their anger by smashing Franchione bobblehead dolls. "Me and my girlfriend are going to get a little rope and hang it down from the side of her balcony with a sign that says, 'Sell out,' " one student told AP.
12.10.2002
Running Wild: We've always liked Ricky Williams since we heard him say he appreciates his fans "straight or gay." And who couldn't like a guy cool enough to wear a wedding dress for a magazine cover shoot? So we're thrilled that Williams, the Miami Dolphins running back, is having a great year. On Monday night, he ran over, through and around the Chicago Bears for 216 yards and two touchdowns as the Fins won in a romp, 27-9. It was Williams' second straight 200-yard rushing day, and his 216 on Monday were the most allowed by the Bears in their 83-year history. Miami is tied for first place in the AFC East with New England and Williams is the chief reason.
12.9.2002
Bowl Idiocy: College football's Bowl Championship Series may have suffered a serious blow when the bowl lineup was announced. Iowa will play Southern Cal in a classic Rose Bowl matchup. Except the game is in the Orange Bowl and this has Rose Bowl officials pissed. The Rose had traditionally been a matchup between the Big Ten and Pac-10 and it was assumed that Iowa would head to Pasadena (which had already lost Ohio State to the national championship game in the Fiesta Bowl) to play Pac-10 champ Washington State. Orange Bowl officials, though, who had first crack at picking teams, took Iowa because their fans travel well and money is what bowls are about.
``We learned a lot about the BCS this year and the way that it operates,'' said Mitch Dorger, CEO of the Tournament of Roses. ``We did not anticipate all the subtleties of the system." The Orange's shortsighted decision to in essence break a gentleman's agreeement may accelerate the demise of the ridiculous BCS system by causing the Rose Bowl to bow out when the contract ends. We can only hope. By the way, the Rose Bowl settled for Oklahoma to play Washingto State.
Bure Done for the Year: Gay icon Pavel Bure of the NHL's New York Rangers, will miss the rest of the season with a knee injury. Bure, who had a huge gay following while with Vancouver, was hurt in Friday's game against Buffalo. He leads the Rangers with 14 goals this season.
12.8.2002
College Football Closers: Miami outlasted Virginia Tech, 56-45, in a wild game to finish the regular season unbeaten and win a trip to the national title game against Ohio State. Willis McGahee, the Miami running back, made his statement for the Heisman Trophy by rushing for six touchdowns.
Out West, Washington State rolled UCLA, 48-27, to win the Pac-10 and earn a spot in the Rose Bowl. The Cougars should play Iowa on Jan. 1, unless the Hawkeyes get taken by the Orange Bowl under college football's idiotic Bowl Championship Series.
In a game for nothing but service pride, Navy quarterback Craig Candeto ran for six touchdowns and threw for one (tying a national record) as Navy sunk Army, 58-12.
12.7.2002
Is That a Puck in Your Pants or Are You Happy to See Me?: This week?s game between the Minnesota Wild and Edmonton Oilers included a little "hide and seek" for goalie Tommy Salo.
Minnesota's Stephane Veilleux made an impressive "coulda woulda, should shot" that ended up in the most unusual spot......down the back of Salo's breezers!
Later, Craig MacTabish, a was quoted as saying, "Tommy pulled one out of his pants...I don't even want to guess where that puck finally ended up. Only Tommy can answer that. You'll have to ask him what it feels like.''
When talking about the missing puck Salo commented, "I felt it get inside the back of my pants. It was one of those things that will never happen again. I never saw the shot. First I looked in the net. Then it dropped down in the back of my pants and I felt it."
Unfortunately for the Wild, the Oilers sealed the game in overtime, 2-1. And it counted as the 7,000th regular season goal for the Oliers. --Chuck Hagel
12.6.2002
Gay Games Money Woes: The Sydney Gay Games may have been an athletic success, but they were a financial bust. The organizers of the Games are $1.4 million (US dollars) in debt and have gone into receivership. Among the creditors is the Federation of Gay Games, which is owed $238,000, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
This news is not a surprise. The Sydney Games were marred for the past two years by weak administration that saw officials come and go and by a lack of major sponsorships. Costs for the Opening Ceremonies, lackluster ticket sales for parties and fewer tourists than anticipated were among the reasons for the shortfall.
Sydney Games co-chair Bev Lange trotted out an old standby to explain the money problems?blame the media. Lange noted that 15% of registered participants failed to come to Sydney, which created a perception that the Games would not go ahead, she told the Sydney Star-Observer.
?We had negative media in the lead-up to the Games, in our press and the mainstream press, or we just didn?t have any coverage at all,? she told the Star-Observer. ?I don?t know how many times I defended the Games in terms of saying, ?Yes, they are happening.? At no stage did we say that the Games wouldn?t happen, and at no stage did the Federation say that. But that was still the perception, that was still the message that was being pumped out in the media and the rumor mill. In the end we couldn?t defeat those rumors and those media lines.?
What Lange failed to note was that media?s reporting on the financial woes of the Games was not speculation, including the fact that the event did come close to running out of money mere weeks before they opened. Sydney?s experience was not unique. Gay Games in Vancouver (1990), New York City (1994) and Amsterdam (1998) all wound up in the red to one degree or another.
12.5.2002
Bobby V Scores: The Phil Donahue Show on MSNBC did a mostly terrific hour on gays in sports Wednesday night. Panelists included ex-NFLers Esera Tuaolo and David Kopay, writers Dan Woog and Robert Lipsyte, ex-New York Mets manager Bobby Valentine and Robert Knight, a spokesman for the rabidly homophobic Family Research Council. In addition, former high school football player Greg Congdon told his tale of near-suicide after he was outed in his small Pennsylvania town.
Having heard Tuaolo, Kopay, Woog, Lipsyte and Congdon before, their articulate and thoughtful answers weren?t a surprise. Knight (who looks like he hasn't smiled in 25 years) was viciously anti-gay and the less said the better.
Valentine, though, was a breath of fresh air for his views on how gays would be treated in a baseball clubhouse.
?I think most clubhouses could handle it,? he said. "They?re mature people who understand all the situations we live with in our society and this is obviously one of them. ? It?s just time to catch up and I think it can be done seamlessly if it?s the right person or people. ? We?re in 2002. Let?s get rid of the whispers and let?s be real about this. ... There will be some distractions and we'll have to get through with them.?
It?s authority figures like a manager or coach who would go a long way in making a coming out go well. Such a player can only hope he has someone as understanding and forceful on the issue as Valentine.
12.4.2002
BCS Is Just BS: The whole controversy over which teams will be playing in college football's Bowl Championship Series shows how lame the system is. We could be in the middle of an exciting 16-team tournament, with semifinals on New Year's Day and finals a week to 10 days later. Instead, all college football fans are hearing about are decimal points and who is ranked higher.
The BCS was designed to crown a legitimate national champion for the only sport without a playoff. Instead, it makes college football's conclusion anticlimatic. While it's nice that Ohio State went unbeaten, only a diehard Buckeye fan would argue they're clearly one of the two best teams in the land.
The BCS has ruined the bowl system by making only one game count. Playoff proposals we've seen make at least three bowls meaningful. We hope one day, the people who run the sport realize that titles should be won on the field, and not by a system only Rube Goldberg could love.
12.3.2002
Buy Some Gold: Some Gay Games medals are worth more than others. In many events, the competition is fierce and a medal a just reward. In other events, where medals are awarded in age groups, someone can win one just by showing up. Now there's another way to "win" a medal and devalue their meaning at the same time--on the auction block.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that an auction called "Remains of the Games" will sell medals (though no golds from what we understand) from the recent Australian event to the highest bidder. "Besides the medals, it has T-shirts, caps and props and costumes, including 3-meter-high purple onions. Now that's something everybody needs," the paper says. We can imagine some guy at a bar, medal dangling around his neck, trying to score by telling his lust object how hard he worked to win it. Yes, auctions can be brutal.
How Now, Tim Brown: Oakland Raiders wide receiver Tim Brown caught his 1,000th career pass in Monday night's game against the New York Jets. Brown has always been the consummate pro and we're happy to got his milestone on national TV.
12.2.2002
Slick Vick: Michael Vick showed again why he's the NFL's MVP. On Sunday against Minnesota, the Atlanta Falcons quarterback was brilliant with his feet, rushing for 173 yards, including the 46-yard game-winning touchdown in a 30-24 overtime win. The Falcons are 7-0-1 in their last eight games. Vick has taken a generally ordinary team and given it greatness.
On Pace: The Indiana Pacers improved to 14-2 with a 92-87 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. Indiana, which has the best record in the NBA East, is the only team to beat Dallas so far and is making believers of people.
Skinned: Mark O'Meara won $405,000 in golf's Skins Game. We remember when people used to care about this event.
12.1.2002
Miami Keeps Rolling: It's 33 and counting for the Miami Hurricanes. With their easy 49-7 win at Syracuse, Miami is one win away from playing in the Fiesta Bowl for college football's national championship. The Canes will earn the right to play Ohio State for the title if they can beat Virginia Tech next week.
In other college football news, #3 Oklahoma was shocked by Oklahoma State for the second year in a row, losing 38-28 and forfeiting any chance at the national title.
11.30.2002
Hog Wild: The Arkansas Razorbacks stunned LSU, 21-20, in college football to earn a spot in the SEC title game. It was the way Arkansas won that was stunning. Down 20-14, the Hogs got the ball at their own 19 with 34 seconds left and defeat seemed imminent. But a 50-yard pass on first down was followed two plays later by a 31-yard prayer that went answered from quarterback Matt Jones to DeCori Birmingham. The extra point gave the Hogs the win and left the Tigers muttering to themselves.
On the Shelf: The Philadelphia Flyers are in a tight NHL division race and now will be without star forward John LeClair for up to 12 weeks. LeClair will undergo surgery on his shoulder.
11.29.2002
Redskins Still Turkeys: The Dallas Cowboys have been a mediocre team since 1997, but they play like Super Bowl champs against the Washington Redskins. On Thanksgiving, the Cowboys came from behind to beat the Redskins, 27-20, for their 10th straight win over their rival dating back to 1997. The Cowboys came from 20-10 down in the third to pull out the win as Emmit Smith rushed for a season-high 144 yards.
Simms Strikes Again: CBS NFL announcer Phil Simms frequently makes comments about the looks and bods of players (and even refs). Kind of makes us wonder if Phil has a side we don't know about. He was at it again during the Thanksgiving game between Detroit and New England. Commenting about how New England QB Tom Brady always is smiling, Simms noted the player's rich contract, Super Bowl ring and the fact that he's "a good-looking boy." At least Simms has good taste.
11.28.2002
Happy Thanksgiving from Outsports.com. Enjoy the holiday! Jim and Cyd
11.27.2002
New Guys in Charge: Two front office moves have intrigued us this week. First, talk about a youth movement. The Boston Red Sox hired 28-year-old Theo Epstein (left) as their new general manager. ``We're going to win a World Series," Epstein said, which either reflects youthful exuberance or a lack of historical perspective; the Sox haven't won a Series since 1918. No one can say Epstein can't identify with today's athlete, though.
The other hiring was actually a promotion as the Baltimore Ravens made Ozzie Newsome the first black general manager in league history. He had been a VP of player personnel. "From a historical standpoint, this is very significant,'' Newsome said. ``I'm the only black general manager in the National Football League. Growing up in the South, there were a lot of times when I was one of the first. I was one of the first blacks to play Little League baseball."
11.26.2002
Too Painful to Watch: The dislocated elbow suffered by Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Koy Detmer was one of the most gruesome-looking injuries we've seen. Detmer fell hard on his left arm after being knocked down in Monday's game at San Francisco. When he hit the ground, the pain was so intense his legs shook violently. Replay made it look like his arm was broken in two. Amazingly, Detmer was back on the sidelines an hour later after trainers managed to manipulate his elbow back into place. He then gave an interview to ABC and sounded no worse for the wear.
He Told You So: When Philadelphia quarterback Donovan McNabb broke his ankle last week, we were among those who said the Iggles' Super Bowl hopes were gone. But contributor Joe Guckin said not so fast. In perceptive article last week, Joe said the Eagles were far from done. After the Birds' 38-17 thrashing at San Francisco on Monday night, who are we to argue?
11.25.2002
Ugly Scenes: Face it, many fans are idiots. They identify with teams, thinking they are somehow responsible for success or agonize over failure (witness people who say "We won."). They take wins and losses too personally and they more and more frequently are getting out of hand. On Saturday--rivalry day for many teams--fans got extra rowdy at six venues, setting fires, damaging cars and injuring people. In Pullman, Wash., fans of Washington State threw bottles and other objects on the field after the Cougars lost to rival Washington, 29-26. "I feared for my life,'' Washington athletic director Barbara Hedges said. In Columbus, 45 rioting Ohio State fans were arrested after a post-game celebration got out of hand. In three other venues, people were hurt after fans tore down goal posts.
Jawboning: It was an odd site--an NFL coach woofing with an opposing player. Green Bay Packers coach Mike Sherman called Tampa Bay lineman Warren Sapp to task as both ran off the field following Sunday's game. The two went almost face to face and we caught a couple of "F-You's" by each. Sherman was upset by the hard hit Sapp laid on Packer lineman Chad Clifton, knocking Clifton out of the game. Sherman thought Sapp celebrated over the prone Clifton and told him he had no class. Sapp said (correctly) the hit was clean and was unapologetic. Guess these guys won't be sending each other Christmas cards.
11.24.2002
Buckeyes Going to Tempe: Ohio State held off Michigan, 13-9, to finish 13-0 and earn a trip to college football's national title game in Jan. 3 Fiesta Bowl. We hate the Bowl Championship Series and aren't convinced the Buckeyes are one of the top two teams, but they deserve the berth based on the BCS formula. Ohio State will play Miami, if the Hurricanes win their next two. Ohio State's win means that Iowa will get the Rose Bowl berth, not a bad consolation prize.
Running Fool: Penn State's Larry Johnson rushed for 277 yards in the Nittany Lions' 61-7 rout of Michigan State. Johnson became the ninth player in NCAA history to gain 2,000 yards rushing in a season. Johnson looks like a good choice to win the Heisman Trophy and we're certain he has Michigan State's vote.
