A&M SAYS BUH-BYE TO BIG-12, FOSTER'S MRI & PRESIDENT'S SPEECH MAY CAUSE PROBLEMS OPENING NIGHT
After much speculation & posturing, Texas A&M is leaving the Big-12 Conference. They informed commissioner Dan Beebe of their intention Wednesday afternoon, stating they would no longer be a member of the conference in July of 2012. Now the Aggies will have to wait for the expected invitation to join the Southeastern Conference. Who else will be invited to join the SEC to level off the number of teams is unknown right now. As far as who the Big-12 will replace A&M with, how about BYU? Brigham Young travels well, they run an ultra-clean program & have a large following. They've been competitive for decades & generate major money with their football program. SMU & Houston are being touted for inclusion, but I don't see the wow factor out of two programs that draw less than 35,000 per game. They don't generate a lot of television ratings either. BYU is definitely my preference.
Here's a first, an injured player posting his MRI on the internet for all to see. That's exactly what Houston running back Arian Foster did, he put the MRI of his pulled hamstring on the internet. He tweeted "I'm fine, did because everybody's too serious, relax." It didn't take ESPN too long before they had their "medical expert" Dr. Michael Kaplan giving his opinion on the severity of Foster's injury. He told John Clayton he observed some tearing in the muscle & a lot of inflammation. He thought Foster should stay off it for 3-4 weeks. So why did Foster post his MRI for all to see? He was sick & tired of his Twitter account being bombarded with fantasy football players wanting to know when he'd return. Foster said he was tired of all the questions, speculation & incorrect information regarding his hammy, so he said he would be ready opening day & posted his MRI. Having had numerous MRI's & x-rays myself, I question a doctor's opinion based solely on a cell phone photograph of a computer screen displaying Foster's MRI, without examining the patient.
My orthopedist reads this blog, maybe he can offer a "2nd opinion"
Another disgruntled running back, Tennessee's Chris Johnson, also took to Twitter today to tell fantasy owners to leave him alone, stop Tweeting him about his holdout. Johnson called fantasy players "bad fans" & they should "STFU." For those who aren't familiar with that abbreviation, just know it is both hostile & vulgar. The longer Johnson's holdout goes, the shorter his fuse has become. I'm not a fantasy player, but I wouldn't touch either of these backs with the proverbial 10' pole.
The new contract signed by Michael Vick caused a few people to jump for joy. Vick filed for bankruptcy before checking into Leavenworth, claiming over $20 million in debts with assets of less than $4 million. The Atlanta Falcons are owed nearly $7.5 million in bonus money Vick was instructed to return after his conviction. His other debts total slightly less than $18 million. With his new deal, he can be out of the woods with creditors by 2014.
I told you yesterday Bengal running back Cedric Benson pleaded no contest to a pair of assault charges in Austin Texas. The judge was very accommodating, telling Benson he could serve most of his 2-day sentence during Cincinnati's bye week that begins October 17th. Benson changed his mind, wanted to get it out of the way, not have to deal with it during the season, so he checked into Austin's Grey Bar Hotel 1st thing Wednesday morning. He hopes to be released by next Wednesday, when Bengal coaches install the game plan for Cincy's first opponent, the Cleveland Browns.
The St. Louis Rams resigned wide receiver Mark Clayton. He was with the Rams last season but tore his patella tendon in week 5 & was placed on I.R. After the season, the St. Louis released the former Sooner. It's unknown if Clayton is ready to practice or play yet. If he practices even once, he's ineligible to go on the PUP list. I think that's where St. Louis will stash Clayton until he can get himself into football shape & the current wide receiver corps becomes a little more defined. They really have about 6 guys who are really 2nd or 3rd receivers, they really don't have a #1 receiver on their roster. Cut down day on Saturday will be especially nerve-wracking for Rams' wideouts. Other than Mike Sims-Walker & Danny Amendola, the rest are pretty close right now.
Fifteen exhibition games will be played this evening, including the Chiefs at Green Bay & St. Louis at Jacksonville. The lone remaining preseason game, Seattle & Oakland, will be played tomorrow night. I'll have a few notes on these games later this afternoon.
I try to stay away from politics here, many of you have made it very clear you want it that way, so I avoid the subject as much as possible. That's not really who I am, but I try to stay on the topic of football almost exclusively. But something occurred this evening that forces me to introduce politics at this point. President Obama wanted to speak to a joint session of congress next Wednesday evening to outline his ideas for a jobs initiative. Congress has been on vacation for nearly a month, their second such break this year, & won't return to Washington until Wednesday. Since a debate of Republican presidential candidates had already been scheduled for the same night, Speaker of the House John Boehner informed the White House this night wouldn't work. Since the speaker is the only person who can arrange such speaking engagements, that was basically the end of next Wednesday as a date for the President's speech. So....they decided to have the speech on Thursday, August 8th. The same night as the NFL opener between New Orleans & Green Bay. Next Thursday also features a college matchup of Arizona at Oklahoma State. Now I'm not going to express my political opinion on this controversy & frankly, I'm not interested in turning this site into a political gripe session. But I will tell you, NBC is mad as hell about this. I would imagine the President will speak sometime in the 7-8PM ET block. The NFL game kicks off at 8:30 ET, the Az-OSU game at 8PM. So how will the football starved public react if their precious opening night is disturbed? We'll see, the reaction this evening wasn't favorable. The league & NBC Sports is truly between a rock & a hard place. I hope it all works out & we don't have to listen to hours of whining from both parties about how unfair the other side is. Remember, I gave you facts, no opinion, so please don't fill up my email box with nasty remarks about our fine elected leaders. Football only please.
Here's a first, an injured player posting his MRI on the internet for all to see. That's exactly what Houston running back Arian Foster did, he put the MRI of his pulled hamstring on the internet. He tweeted "I'm fine, did because everybody's too serious, relax." It didn't take ESPN too long before they had their "medical expert" Dr. Michael Kaplan giving his opinion on the severity of Foster's injury. He told John Clayton he observed some tearing in the muscle & a lot of inflammation. He thought Foster should stay off it for 3-4 weeks. So why did Foster post his MRI for all to see? He was sick & tired of his Twitter account being bombarded with fantasy football players wanting to know when he'd return. Foster said he was tired of all the questions, speculation & incorrect information regarding his hammy, so he said he would be ready opening day & posted his MRI. Having had numerous MRI's & x-rays myself, I question a doctor's opinion based solely on a cell phone photograph of a computer screen displaying Foster's MRI, without examining the patient.
My orthopedist reads this blog, maybe he can offer a "2nd opinion"
Another disgruntled running back, Tennessee's Chris Johnson, also took to Twitter today to tell fantasy owners to leave him alone, stop Tweeting him about his holdout. Johnson called fantasy players "bad fans" & they should "STFU." For those who aren't familiar with that abbreviation, just know it is both hostile & vulgar. The longer Johnson's holdout goes, the shorter his fuse has become. I'm not a fantasy player, but I wouldn't touch either of these backs with the proverbial 10' pole.
The new contract signed by Michael Vick caused a few people to jump for joy. Vick filed for bankruptcy before checking into Leavenworth, claiming over $20 million in debts with assets of less than $4 million. The Atlanta Falcons are owed nearly $7.5 million in bonus money Vick was instructed to return after his conviction. His other debts total slightly less than $18 million. With his new deal, he can be out of the woods with creditors by 2014.
I told you yesterday Bengal running back Cedric Benson pleaded no contest to a pair of assault charges in Austin Texas. The judge was very accommodating, telling Benson he could serve most of his 2-day sentence during Cincinnati's bye week that begins October 17th. Benson changed his mind, wanted to get it out of the way, not have to deal with it during the season, so he checked into Austin's Grey Bar Hotel 1st thing Wednesday morning. He hopes to be released by next Wednesday, when Bengal coaches install the game plan for Cincy's first opponent, the Cleveland Browns.
The St. Louis Rams resigned wide receiver Mark Clayton. He was with the Rams last season but tore his patella tendon in week 5 & was placed on I.R. After the season, the St. Louis released the former Sooner. It's unknown if Clayton is ready to practice or play yet. If he practices even once, he's ineligible to go on the PUP list. I think that's where St. Louis will stash Clayton until he can get himself into football shape & the current wide receiver corps becomes a little more defined. They really have about 6 guys who are really 2nd or 3rd receivers, they really don't have a #1 receiver on their roster. Cut down day on Saturday will be especially nerve-wracking for Rams' wideouts. Other than Mike Sims-Walker & Danny Amendola, the rest are pretty close right now.
Fifteen exhibition games will be played this evening, including the Chiefs at Green Bay & St. Louis at Jacksonville. The lone remaining preseason game, Seattle & Oakland, will be played tomorrow night. I'll have a few notes on these games later this afternoon.
I try to stay away from politics here, many of you have made it very clear you want it that way, so I avoid the subject as much as possible. That's not really who I am, but I try to stay on the topic of football almost exclusively. But something occurred this evening that forces me to introduce politics at this point. President Obama wanted to speak to a joint session of congress next Wednesday evening to outline his ideas for a jobs initiative. Congress has been on vacation for nearly a month, their second such break this year, & won't return to Washington until Wednesday. Since a debate of Republican presidential candidates had already been scheduled for the same night, Speaker of the House John Boehner informed the White House this night wouldn't work. Since the speaker is the only person who can arrange such speaking engagements, that was basically the end of next Wednesday as a date for the President's speech. So....they decided to have the speech on Thursday, August 8th. The same night as the NFL opener between New Orleans & Green Bay. Next Thursday also features a college matchup of Arizona at Oklahoma State. Now I'm not going to express my political opinion on this controversy & frankly, I'm not interested in turning this site into a political gripe session. But I will tell you, NBC is mad as hell about this. I would imagine the President will speak sometime in the 7-8PM ET block. The NFL game kicks off at 8:30 ET, the Az-OSU game at 8PM. So how will the football starved public react if their precious opening night is disturbed? We'll see, the reaction this evening wasn't favorable. The league & NBC Sports is truly between a rock & a hard place. I hope it all works out & we don't have to listen to hours of whining from both parties about how unfair the other side is. Remember, I gave you facts, no opinion, so please don't fill up my email box with nasty remarks about our fine elected leaders. Football only please.
Comments