A STALKED WIFE, BRUCE TEARS A PEC, TSN SHOULD BE ASHAMED(AGAIN) & A 1ST ROUNDER FOR A 5TH ROUNDER?
Cruising around the internet as I do everyday, looking for something off-beat or bizarre that might interest you, I came across a disturbing story. On the Vikings page at Scout.com, writer Tim Yotter tells a story that was pretty repulsive. Remember the 2007 Fiesta Bowl? Boise State's stirring come from behind overtime win vs. Oklahoma, 43-42, for my money one of the most exciting college football games ever. If you watched the game, you'll never forget the moments after Boise running back Ian Johnson scored the game-winning two-point conversion on a statue of liberty play, he threw the ball into the seats, ran over to the BSU cheerleaders, dropped to one knee & proposed to his girlfriend Chrissy. She accepted, they embraced & it was all caught on national television. In December, Sports Illustrated ran a piece recalling the emotional win for the Broncos & did a short update on Ian & Chrissy Johnson, now married. In the piece, they talked about their lives since the game, Ian's a backup for the Vikings & Chrissy with her job for Victoria's Secret in the Mall of the America's. One more thing, she works the day shift. What the hell was this writer & his editor thinking? Since the article was printed, Mrs. Johnson has had numerous male visitors to the store & endless phone calls. What kind of guy feels the need to reach out to a married woman & give her gifts & such? Several gentleman callers left disturbing cards & photos. Three guys have been cited for trespassing on Victoria's Secret property after being warned to stay out of the store. The third guy was taken into custody, it was his third encounter with Minneapolis law enforcement. The guy lives in freakin' Maryland! Just how sick is that? He's traveled to the Twin Cities to see her? Now Chrissy has had to quit her job, it's become too dangerous, thanks to the folks at Sports Illustrated. There are a lot of very disturbed individuals out there, don't help them in their twisted endeavors by telling them everything they need to find a totally innocent person for them to terrify.
Bruce Gradkowski, Oakland's starting quarterback at season's end last year tore a pectoral muscle doing bench presses on Wednesday. It will required a minor surgical procedure to repair it. The Raiders wasted no time in filling the breech, can't be left with JaMarcus Russell & nobody else now can we? Yesterday Oakland signed Kyle Bollar, former Raven 1st round pick out of Cal. Bollar spent last season as a part-time starter for the Rams.
For the second year in a row, I'm going to complain about the demise of a once great publication, The Sporting News. The venerable publication from St. Louis was started as a baseball rag but football found it's way into being a major part of TSN's popularity. In the age of the internet, TSN is just like everybody else, they have a big site with numerous writers. They also publish a Draft Yearbook that sells for $7.99. You can subscribe to TSN's online "War Room", the 'insiders' take on the draft. I didn't buy the draft magazine nor would I ever pay TSN for their War Room insight. But lurking around the magazine rack at my local grocery store like some guy sneaking a peak at a Playboy, I leafed thru this periodical. It was shamefully bad, especially from such a proud company like TSN. The 1st two things I look at when I open these mags is "Chiefs wants & needs", something I believe I'm very in tune with & defensive tackles, specifically nose tackles. This is one area most of these draft publications don't cover well or in TSN's case, almost not at all. Listing 26 tackles, they omitted Cam Thomas & Torell Troup altogether. These two will go somewhere between rounds 2-4. They listed Alabama nose tackle Terrence Cody as a 7th rounder, behind Maryland's Travis Ivy, who is listed as a 5th round pick. They speak of Ivy's athleticism, which I never saw in his play, he's fat, out of shape & he isn't athletic. They list Dan Williams, a sure-fire top 20 pick, as a 3rd rounder. I could have gone on reading this B.S. in amazement, but my hand was full of notes & my frozen foods were beginning to thaw, so I put the mag back in the rack & went to the checkout counter. This morning I went on TSN's website & it was a jaw-dropping experience too. The folks from "The War Room" threw a freebie online today, listing their top 99 prospects overall, then by position. It was worse than the magazine! They have Tennessee's Eric Berry listed as the 42nd best player in this draft. I glanced at several other things before exiting the site, it isn't all bad, but their draft coverage is downright laughable.
Don't take to heart a prospect's visit to your team's headquarters as interest in that player. Len Pasquerelli at ESPN.com reported today a scout had told him last year less than 20% of the visiting players were actually drafted by the team that had invited them to visit. It's all a smokescreen to confuse other teams. That's some pretty expensive smoke, flying a prospect in, buying him lunch or dinner in the company of 2-3 coaches, maybe the GM, maybe the player personnel director, maybe the kid's agent. Yes that's expensive smoke indeed.
Today the 10th overall pick in the 2007 draft was traded for a 5th round pick in this draft. Ted Ginn Jr. was sent packing to San Francisco this morning. He just never panned out as a receiver, he was a good kickoff return man, but his receiving skills were never honed. He simply didn't improve in his 3 seasons with Miami. For all of you who question my thoughts on trading Glenn Dorsey for a 3rd or 4th round pick, this makes my point. If a 1st round pick is a solid citizen & a very productive football player, he can be worth another 1st round pick & maybe more. But a 1st round pick who never produces up to expectations is only worth whatever someone will give you for them. I believe Dorsey is worth more than Ginn Jr. because he has way more potential, but realistically their production is similar.
Bruce Gradkowski, Oakland's starting quarterback at season's end last year tore a pectoral muscle doing bench presses on Wednesday. It will required a minor surgical procedure to repair it. The Raiders wasted no time in filling the breech, can't be left with JaMarcus Russell & nobody else now can we? Yesterday Oakland signed Kyle Bollar, former Raven 1st round pick out of Cal. Bollar spent last season as a part-time starter for the Rams.
For the second year in a row, I'm going to complain about the demise of a once great publication, The Sporting News. The venerable publication from St. Louis was started as a baseball rag but football found it's way into being a major part of TSN's popularity. In the age of the internet, TSN is just like everybody else, they have a big site with numerous writers. They also publish a Draft Yearbook that sells for $7.99. You can subscribe to TSN's online "War Room", the 'insiders' take on the draft. I didn't buy the draft magazine nor would I ever pay TSN for their War Room insight. But lurking around the magazine rack at my local grocery store like some guy sneaking a peak at a Playboy, I leafed thru this periodical. It was shamefully bad, especially from such a proud company like TSN. The 1st two things I look at when I open these mags is "Chiefs wants & needs", something I believe I'm very in tune with & defensive tackles, specifically nose tackles. This is one area most of these draft publications don't cover well or in TSN's case, almost not at all. Listing 26 tackles, they omitted Cam Thomas & Torell Troup altogether. These two will go somewhere between rounds 2-4. They listed Alabama nose tackle Terrence Cody as a 7th rounder, behind Maryland's Travis Ivy, who is listed as a 5th round pick. They speak of Ivy's athleticism, which I never saw in his play, he's fat, out of shape & he isn't athletic. They list Dan Williams, a sure-fire top 20 pick, as a 3rd rounder. I could have gone on reading this B.S. in amazement, but my hand was full of notes & my frozen foods were beginning to thaw, so I put the mag back in the rack & went to the checkout counter. This morning I went on TSN's website & it was a jaw-dropping experience too. The folks from "The War Room" threw a freebie online today, listing their top 99 prospects overall, then by position. It was worse than the magazine! They have Tennessee's Eric Berry listed as the 42nd best player in this draft. I glanced at several other things before exiting the site, it isn't all bad, but their draft coverage is downright laughable.
Don't take to heart a prospect's visit to your team's headquarters as interest in that player. Len Pasquerelli at ESPN.com reported today a scout had told him last year less than 20% of the visiting players were actually drafted by the team that had invited them to visit. It's all a smokescreen to confuse other teams. That's some pretty expensive smoke, flying a prospect in, buying him lunch or dinner in the company of 2-3 coaches, maybe the GM, maybe the player personnel director, maybe the kid's agent. Yes that's expensive smoke indeed.
Today the 10th overall pick in the 2007 draft was traded for a 5th round pick in this draft. Ted Ginn Jr. was sent packing to San Francisco this morning. He just never panned out as a receiver, he was a good kickoff return man, but his receiving skills were never honed. He simply didn't improve in his 3 seasons with Miami. For all of you who question my thoughts on trading Glenn Dorsey for a 3rd or 4th round pick, this makes my point. If a 1st round pick is a solid citizen & a very productive football player, he can be worth another 1st round pick & maybe more. But a 1st round pick who never produces up to expectations is only worth whatever someone will give you for them. I believe Dorsey is worth more than Ginn Jr. because he has way more potential, but realistically their production is similar.
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