THIS AND THAT.........THE ANNOYED EDITION
From the "What in the Hell were they thinking?" file. The ever-shrinking brain trust at HBO came up with a beauty recently, 'Joe Buck Live'. Yeah, that Joe Buck, the FOXSports Joe Buck, the nearly colorless, unfunny Joe Buck. The network that gave us "The Soprano's", "Sex in the City", "Deadwood", "The Wire", "Six Feet Under" & "Inside the NFL" continues to run aground with "True Blood", "In Treatment", the Bill Maher hatefest & now "Joe Buck Live". Fine idea, replace "Costas Now", truly superior sports journalism, with a guy incapable of telling us anything more than the speed of a Dontrell Willis fastball. If you gave me the choice between watching a baseball game called by Buck & Tim McCarver or being waterboarded, my response would be at least the waterboarding won't last 3 1/2 hours. His father, Hall of Fame broadcaster, Jack Buck, would be appalled at his son's new venture. So the first of these televised trainwrecks hosted by Buck had Brett Favre, Paul Rudd & Arte Lange as guests. Lange, a veteran of the Howard Stern Show, decided he would take over the show & say as many outrageously filthy things as possible. Talk about difficult to watch & don't take my word for it, HBO hijacked every single excerpt on YouTube, so how proud of this show are they? In between F-Bombs & homophobic attempts at humor, Lange referred to Jessica Simpson as a "fat chick, fat like Chris Farley" & after it was apparent Buck had zero control of this mess, Lange added "hey Joe, I'm sorry to ruin your great f...ing show". If you've never seen Arte Lange, he's a big, fat, disgusting slob who thinks shocking people is funny. Vulgar doesn't always equal funny, for Richard Pryor it worked, but not for Lange, Stern or Dice Clay. So now that HBO has premiered "Joe Buck Live", can canceling "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel" be too far behind? The 15 Emmy's & many other broadcasting awards "Real Sports" has won really has no place on this network, whereas another completely lame, unfunny, vulgarity laden talk show will probably become a cornerstone of HBO's cavalcade of crap. True pity what they did to this network in such a short time.
'The Fugitive', Ryan Leaf, was arrested attempting to cross the border into the U.S. Wednesday afternoon. He was released on a $45,000 bond. His attorney, Bill Kelly, stated Leaf was arrested as he attempted to cross the border on his way back to Texas to meet the Thursday afternoon deadline imposed by D.A. James Farren. I have no idea what goes thru Leaf's head & I doubt anyone else does either so I won't speculate on what his motives were. If he shows in west Texas this afternoon, he will have done himself some good, he has 8 charges all told against him, 7 are drug related. I doubt he was looking at any jail time prior to vanishing last month, but now he just might be looking at 6 months to a year in the 'Gray Bar Hotel'.
Hey Tim, don't sugarcoat it, tell us how you really feel. I was watching ESPN's "NFL LIVE" yesterday & the topic of Plaxico Burress came up. Analyst Tim Hasselback chimed in with "I played with the guy on the Giants, I was in the locker room with him for 2 years. He's a disaster as a teammate. He's a disaster to coach". Co-analyst, Eric Allen, a former cornerback, said "when we were preparing for the Steelers, the emphasis was always on Hines Ward, never on Burress, he just wasn't into the game most of the time". Here's a guy who had almost unlimited natural talent & except for a few games, like the Super Bowl, never lived up to his mammoth potential.
If you've followed my blurbs about Browns wide receiver Donte Stallworth, I think you'd have to say I have been pretty fair regarding his DUI manslaughter charges & his plea deal that was reached on Wednesday. I'm not totally happy with his 30-day incarceration, sure seemed like it should've been more, but when the Reyes family begs the judge to approve the plea bargain so that the victim's daughter won't have to relive the tragedy, then I guess what's done is done. I caught Campbell Brown's "No Bias, No Bull" on CNN Wednesday night & her account of what happened & Stallworth's resulting sentencing was one helluva lot of both bias & bull. It was her contention because he was an 'NFL star', he was only given 30-days in jail & some community service. She never mentioned the 2-years of house arrest as part of his sentencing. She also omitted the 1,000 hours of community service & the 8-years of probation. She speculated that Stallworth would be back playing soon. We'll see, I think Stallworth is looking at a lengthy suspension. Plus I doubt you'd get anyone in the NFL media to call Stallworth a star. In his 7-year career, he played with 4 different teams, averaging 42 catches & 4 touchdowns a season, hardly 'star' production. I am not defending Stallworth, but when CNN reports bull with bias, it shouldn't go unchallenged.
I have to believe the Denver Broncos are going to be forced to take a stand on Brandon Marshall's trade request. If he's traded quickly, it certainly sends a message to the entire roster, "don't want to be here?, just demand a trade". Jay Cutler got out & if they let their 2nd best skill position player go on his merry way, it shows the inmates are running the asylum. This off season has been completely bizarre in Denver & trading Marshall because, as he puts it on his blog, "moving on is really what's best for his growth both on & off the field". I don't see where Denver is going to get true value for Marshall, who caught over 200 passes the last 2 seasons. He's currently unable to workout or run as he is rehabbing from hip surgery. His upcoming domestic violence trial doesn't help either. I don't see a quick trade & if Denver management wants to retain any semblance of control, not trading him at all would be the way to go. He has almost no leverage, he's still under contract & the Broncos could slap the franchise tag on him after the season. All he can do is hold out & that can quickly become a lose/lose outcome.
I'd really like to end on something positive, it was a crappy news day, the NFL's 'Mr. Irrelevant', has been signed. The Kansas City Chiefs signed Ryan Succop, the very last player(256th) drafted in April, to a 3-year deal. The former South Carolina place kicker has a chance to stick with the Chiefs, they've gone thru 5 kickers in the last 3 seasons & I wonder if they're totally sold on Connor Barth. Succop will reign as 'Mr. Irrelevant' until next years draft, unless some nude photos surface right?
'The Fugitive', Ryan Leaf, was arrested attempting to cross the border into the U.S. Wednesday afternoon. He was released on a $45,000 bond. His attorney, Bill Kelly, stated Leaf was arrested as he attempted to cross the border on his way back to Texas to meet the Thursday afternoon deadline imposed by D.A. James Farren. I have no idea what goes thru Leaf's head & I doubt anyone else does either so I won't speculate on what his motives were. If he shows in west Texas this afternoon, he will have done himself some good, he has 8 charges all told against him, 7 are drug related. I doubt he was looking at any jail time prior to vanishing last month, but now he just might be looking at 6 months to a year in the 'Gray Bar Hotel'.
Hey Tim, don't sugarcoat it, tell us how you really feel. I was watching ESPN's "NFL LIVE" yesterday & the topic of Plaxico Burress came up. Analyst Tim Hasselback chimed in with "I played with the guy on the Giants, I was in the locker room with him for 2 years. He's a disaster as a teammate. He's a disaster to coach". Co-analyst, Eric Allen, a former cornerback, said "when we were preparing for the Steelers, the emphasis was always on Hines Ward, never on Burress, he just wasn't into the game most of the time". Here's a guy who had almost unlimited natural talent & except for a few games, like the Super Bowl, never lived up to his mammoth potential.
If you've followed my blurbs about Browns wide receiver Donte Stallworth, I think you'd have to say I have been pretty fair regarding his DUI manslaughter charges & his plea deal that was reached on Wednesday. I'm not totally happy with his 30-day incarceration, sure seemed like it should've been more, but when the Reyes family begs the judge to approve the plea bargain so that the victim's daughter won't have to relive the tragedy, then I guess what's done is done. I caught Campbell Brown's "No Bias, No Bull" on CNN Wednesday night & her account of what happened & Stallworth's resulting sentencing was one helluva lot of both bias & bull. It was her contention because he was an 'NFL star', he was only given 30-days in jail & some community service. She never mentioned the 2-years of house arrest as part of his sentencing. She also omitted the 1,000 hours of community service & the 8-years of probation. She speculated that Stallworth would be back playing soon. We'll see, I think Stallworth is looking at a lengthy suspension. Plus I doubt you'd get anyone in the NFL media to call Stallworth a star. In his 7-year career, he played with 4 different teams, averaging 42 catches & 4 touchdowns a season, hardly 'star' production. I am not defending Stallworth, but when CNN reports bull with bias, it shouldn't go unchallenged.
I have to believe the Denver Broncos are going to be forced to take a stand on Brandon Marshall's trade request. If he's traded quickly, it certainly sends a message to the entire roster, "don't want to be here?, just demand a trade". Jay Cutler got out & if they let their 2nd best skill position player go on his merry way, it shows the inmates are running the asylum. This off season has been completely bizarre in Denver & trading Marshall because, as he puts it on his blog, "moving on is really what's best for his growth both on & off the field". I don't see where Denver is going to get true value for Marshall, who caught over 200 passes the last 2 seasons. He's currently unable to workout or run as he is rehabbing from hip surgery. His upcoming domestic violence trial doesn't help either. I don't see a quick trade & if Denver management wants to retain any semblance of control, not trading him at all would be the way to go. He has almost no leverage, he's still under contract & the Broncos could slap the franchise tag on him after the season. All he can do is hold out & that can quickly become a lose/lose outcome.
I'd really like to end on something positive, it was a crappy news day, the NFL's 'Mr. Irrelevant', has been signed. The Kansas City Chiefs signed Ryan Succop, the very last player(256th) drafted in April, to a 3-year deal. The former South Carolina place kicker has a chance to stick with the Chiefs, they've gone thru 5 kickers in the last 3 seasons & I wonder if they're totally sold on Connor Barth. Succop will reign as 'Mr. Irrelevant' until next years draft, unless some nude photos surface right?
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