After Running The Bills Out Of Their Own Building, There Is No Denying That The Saints Are Legit11/13/2017 An undeniable truth became evident as the Drew Brees casually sauntered out of the pocket and outstretched the football over the pylon giving New Orleans a 34 point lead late in the 3rd quarter...
Same old Saints, they are not. It was poetic, really. The first called pass of a 10 play, 94 yard drive that officially trampled whatever pride and competitive spirit remained in a Buffalo Bills team that got flat out emasculated in front of their own fans also ended up being, yet another, rushing touchdown. The label was earned. Over the years, far too many seemingly winnable games would end up in the loss column because the Saints dependance on being a finesse football team would have them over passing their way into precarious situations when the environment turned hostile. That is, in part, what had most looking to a mid-November contest in the unforgiving weather of the Northeast to solidify their belief in a six-game win streak that seemed far too good to be true. In theory, the Bills - and more specifically, Buffalo - would prove to be a difficult matchup. In damn near flawless execution, that theory wasn't just dead wrong...it was wide right. Simply put, it's time to scrub this team free of the label that they've spent over a decade incessantly rubbing into the very fabric of their being. Your 2017 New Orleans Saints still have one of the top passing attacks in the league, but they no longer live - or, more accurately - die by it. Prior to this season, a 184 yard effort with 0 touchdowns through the air from Drew Brees would signal inevitable defeat, but yesterday his so-so stats were a sign of sheer dominance. The argument can be made that they've actually been more impressive when the ball isn't in the hands of their future, first ballot 'Hall Of Fame' quarterback, which is mind blowing considering the chemistry that he's always had with Sean Payton. It's genuinely shocking how much of that can be credited to a renovated running game that boasts two of the league's most efficient, versatile backs in Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara, and has been able to withstand multiple injuries to the line tasked with opening holes for them. What remains of that credit, of course, goes to the unit that has gifted the Saints the opportunity to control both the ball and the clock. Yesterday the Bills Mafia got whacked. The cause of death was strangulation, and the leading suspect was the Saints' defense. Tyrod Taylor had 56 yards passing before his yanking served as a white flag. LeSean McCoy was more ghostly than 'Shady' after starting off the game with a 36 yard run that accounted for all but 13 of his yards on the ground. It's time to declare it official, the annual forgone conclusion that New Orleans is a soft team made even more vulnerable by travel has become a myth. With nearly 300 rushing yards, 6 rushing TD's, and 47 unanswered points without a single punt, their legitimacy as a true contender that is built to win anywhere got stamped with the type of authority required to hold an NFL team to 66 total yards through 3.5 quarters...
Seven wins is unquestionably much better as a streak than it is as a season, and if they continue to play the way they played yesterday then there is no reason to think they won't be extending the former in short order. Expectations are no longer being tempered, and - with the entirety of the game no longer resting solely on Drew Brees' shoulder - they don't even feel like that heavy of a burden. They say that where there is a will there is a way, and the New Orleans Saints are currently imposing their will on everyone they play. ---------
More important than the ridiculously one-sided football that was played yesterday, Daniel Lasco had movement in all extremities after leaving the field with a spine injury in an ambulance. Considering how frightening the following scene was, that's excellent news. Here's to hoping there are no complications and that he makes a full recovery...
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YardBarker- The NFL on Friday released a statement indicating a “thorough review” is underway examining whether concussion protocol was followed by Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks during Thursday night’s game.
“A thorough review is underway,” the NFL statement read, via Pro Football Talk. “According to the policy jointed developed by the NFL and NFLPA, if the Concussion Protocol is not properly followed the club is subject to discipline.” As noted in an ESPN report, NFL concussion protocol dictates “that a player believed to have concussion symptoms cannot return to ‘practice or play’ unless a team physician and an independent neurological consultant clear him.” Wilson promptly returned to the field and participated in two more plays before the Seahawks were forced to punt. Wilson was then examined more thoroughly in the medical tent and returned to the field on the next Seahawks possession, indicating he was cleared on the second visit. --------- Well, that was fucking stupid. And no, by "that" I don't even mean Russell Wilson arguing his way back onto the field after undergoing a complete mental evaluation that was somehow less thorough than that of Larry David's... Granted, it's also fairly dumb to put your brain at immediate risk after having it absord a helmet-to-helmet blow from a muscle-bound human missile. It's just not as dumb as thinking you can grab the attention of a league that came out on the ass end of CTE-related litigation that's expected to cost them a billion dollars by hopping under a bright blue tent for three and a half seconds. Professional athletes are - more often than not - going to play through injuries that could very well take years off their lifespan in the long run, but would it have killed Russell Wilson (well actually, it might) to have been just a little more discrete in making a complete mockery of the concussion protocol? He honestly would have looked less suspicious if he dropped to all 4's and started barking like a dog than he did willingly submitting himself to what I'm assuming was nothing more than a trainer using the back of his hand to take Russell Wilson's temperature like a brain gets substantially hotter when it's broken. I'm assuming they didn't ask him if he could look at his radioactive ooze-colored jersey without getting a mind-numbing headache, so the best excuse I've got for a scene that was shorter than subliminal marketing is that the only concussion water on hand was off-brand and Russell Wilson didn't want to enrage his sponsors. If not, then he might as well have held up a sign that said "my mind is fucked, but it's a one score game". I haven't spoken to Roger Goodell, but I'd imagine that he'd tell the Seattle Seahawks to just...be better. You want to kill your quarterback by his 50th birthday than fine by him, but don't murder the integrity of the NFL's concussion protocol during the handful of times in which any team has made even a passing attempt at administering it.
I'll tell you what, he has some godforsaken nerve unsolicitedly placing his hands on him like that. Just unbelievable that someone would disrespect an undeniable authority on all things MMA by assaulting them out of absolutely nowhere for such a ridiculous reason! You may say that Conor McGregor was basically begging to draw a little hands-on attention from a group of officials who just got done legislating a combat sport in front of the crowd of thousands of rowdy, drunk fans from which he unexpectedly came. Well, I say he was an innocent victim that was obviously just celebrating his buddy's Bellator victory by flying into the octagon and mounting him while dressed like he was a ski-mask away from conspiring to pull a heist at 'The Bellagio'. To be quite honest, I hardly understand the confusion here. Clearly that screaming black blur that almost immediately found himself on the wrong of a grappling position at an event held by a company that he doesn't work for was Conor McGregor. How could anyone not instantly realize that?! If I were him I would have started uncontrollably shoving and slapping referees while making a wildly unnecessary scene fit for a jail break of the tiger exhibit at your local zoo too. How dare they be so handsy in doing their job by breaking up what appeared to be a extracurricular wrestling match to make sure the bloodied individual whose health they were responsible for wasn't in any non-legislated danger! Sidenote: I take back the entire litany of sarcasm if this was just some paid promotional tactic by 'Bellator'. Considering I have never had any interest in watching their product outside of a celebration gone awry, it wouldn't be the worst idea if it were.
Honestly, it was about damn time, and I hardly mean that as an indictment of the amount of games it took Brian Boyle to net his first goal as a New Jersey Devil. Instead, of course, I mean it as nod to how unbelievably long it took him to publicly lend credence to the emotional toll that his cancer diagnosis clearly took on him, his family, and his friends. With the uncanny resilience and toughness he's shown in overcoming what couldn't have been a worse and potentially tragic situation, it's been a long time coming that he let his guard down and shed a celebratory tear. That goal was the result of a hell of a lot of perseverance, and that's not even including the work that he apparently put into knocking a majority of the rust off during his first road trip of the season. Brian Boyle has been playing some pretty damn good hockey the last two games, but - more importantly - he's doing so as a happy and healthy human being that serves as a source of endless inspiration to those around him. I'm obviously glad he was able to contribute from a productivity standpoint, but I think I speak for everyone who witnessed that puck crossed that line in saying that I'm ecstatic over what it represents. Don't let the waterworks fool you, Brian Boyle is stronger than all the collective hashtags used to support his fight. ----------
On a severely less sentimental note, Nico Hischier managed to elicit tears of a much more depressing variety by trying to be cuter than his adorable little hair flip by returning a feed to Taylor Hall when - in fact - it was the gaping mouth of the opponent's net that was desperately calling for the puck. I don't want to say the 18 year old rookie is snakebitten or that he's gripping his stick too tightly because he's creating chances and producing points at an alarming rate...
Unfortunately, when it comes to he - himself - finishing those chances and being more directly responsible for setting off that red light it appears as though he's got a goddamn boa constricting his knuckles. I counted three, but it was for sure two, instances in which he wouldn't have had to dig too deep to bury the puck on his stick, and none of them ended up in the back of the net. Granted, when I was his age I was drinking daily to the point of blackout under the mild pressure of my peers so - in an extremely inebriated way - I understand his insistence on being unselfish. Still, sometimes you just have to take the bull by the testicles like Taylor Hall did in creating the unfinished opportunity in the first place. I have no qualms with how he played last night (or overall throughout the season, really) after the short benching he earned himself with a self-proclaimed "stupid" penalty and I know the goal scoring will come sooner rather than later. But, make no mistake, last night a freshman mistake cost the Devils a much needed win against hockey's scariest junior. Jimmer Fredette And Stephon Marbury Got In A Pushing Match For Chinese Basketball Supremacy11/10/2017
Were Jimmer Fredette's previous forays into the world of professional basketball on American soil not enough to show you that he's better off overseas? Well, let this shockingly cavalier block on his lay-up by the closest thing that China has to an NBA player in a 40-year old former NBA player who eats (drinks?) vaseline on his off days be a reminder. Those 50-point triple doubles take place in the Far East because Western civilization is wayyyyyy too advanced to let some athletically limited, shot-happy white boy drain defenseless 3's all damn day. Let's just be honest here. Stephon Marbury returned that ball so quickly that you would have thought its sender had an Afghanistan address. He put forth the effort in whacking back that rack attack that a father might in playing his 3 year old on a 'Fisher Price' hoop for rights to the TV on a Sunday afternoon. Jimmer Fredette wasn't mad because he thought he was fouled, he was mad because potentially the only person capable reminded him why he is where he is in his basketball career by stonewalling him while barely leaving his feet. Now, I find the pushing match between China's two most notable American players to be inherently hilarious. There's no doubt that a rivalry exists between Jimmer Fredette and Stephon Marbury simply because neither hate anyone else in the league enough to learn their actual name. Still, the idea that that is the Asian equivalent of the following is comical in a "oh my god, that's really the best we've exported?" sort of way...
Ben Simmons: "I think I would’ve learned a lot more being around professional athletes. Looking back at it now, I don’t even really know what I learned financially or just being a person at LSU. I think I’ve learned a lot more this whole year, being in Philly and being a pro than I did in LSU.” “It’s a dirty business. You have to put up with it, but at the same time, it just taught me a lot. I have an image and people wanted to use that, but now I have the opportunity to control that and what I do and who I work with. It helped me. At the same time, I feel like it was really sneaky, kind of.” “If someone wants to be a pro basketball player and doesn’t want to go to college, don’t go to college. We don’t put a gun to your head. First and foremost, it’s about being a student at a university. We’re in the human development business.” ------- Well Ben, when you put it like that it really makes it seem like the NCAA is just a bunch of greedy assholes looking to exploit young and naive college athletes for their own benefit as opposed to giving them a complimentary education and a productive environment to grow and mature. To be honest, I'm not sure I like the implication that the millionaires who are liable to hand out suspensions at the drop of an illegally gifted hat aren't in it for the love of the game. Sure, they refuse to compensate the talent - that is obligated solely by age to be there - with nothing more than a couple free introductory classes en route to a degree that the most highly touted (i.e. profitable) stand next to no chance of completing any time soon. However, temporarily having your earning potential stunted at the hands of those whose pockets get lined with it is all a part of the developmental process. So why don't you watch that tongue of yours young man. After all, the only reason I can refer to you as such is because LSU fed you (on your own dime, of course), watered you, and looked after you in a way that made you blossom quicker than an extra year in your eventual profession ever could. It may have felt like a monetary juicing, but that was just the NCAA getting the most out of you as a basketball player. The fact that they also got the most out of you as an asset was just an extremely fortunate side effect, so don't be so selective when you trust the process Benjamin!
Chris Long: I know a lot of the sacks aren’t on you. Menelik Watson: My technique’s terrible right now. Chris Long: No, it’s not. -------- Whew, what a relief. Here I was awkwardly trying to fight my way through every "thank you" that followed the rare times in which someone said something nice about me to my face, and it turns out even one of the biggest, strongest, and most disproportionally agile men on the planet suffers from those very same uncomfortable exchanges! Granted, it's probably pretty tough to accept a compliment without a rebuttal when you're part of a unit that's getting absolutely bushwhacked in the midst of a 28-point trouncing that didn't even feel that close, but still. Whether or not Menelik Watson was doing everything in his pseudo-superhuman power to protect a quarterback who happens to have an inherent inability to play quarterback, being told such will never be as consoling as it is discomforting. Maybe our "technique" is terrible in absorbing approval because we've all become exponentially more accustomed to hearing when we've fucked up as opposed to when we've done good, or maybe it's because were all at least sightly self-conscious about our skill-set. Whatever the case may be, it's a phenomenon that apparently effects professional athletes on down to idiots writing jokes on the internet. So, despite the fact that Menelik Watson could put bench press me while simultaneously reading the morning paper, it appears he and I aren't all that different. Oddly enough (for various reasons), I have a lot more in common with him than I do Chris Long, because I might actually be more likely to flawlessly accept praise than I would be to offer some to my opponent in the middle of a game. Delvin Breaux Is Officially Done For The Year, And A Lot Of People Are Lucky That's Not Bigger News11/9/2017
More so than anything else, this news absolutely sucks for Delvin Breaux the person. I want to say that he can't catch a break, but the problem is that he actually caught more breaks than the incompetent doctors that were formerly paid handsomely to do just that. It seems like every time he scales an obstacle there another one waiting on the other side of it. The level of difficulty on the course that is his career feels harshly difficult given the fact that he did the unthinkable in overcoming a broken neck to play professional football. Obviously Delvin Breaux became a success story when he first stepped on an NFL field, but the nagging, repetitive, and misdiagnosed injuries that have kept him off that field are really limiting the amount of chapters in what already has the potential to be a pretty damn good book. I'm not one to complain about which particular players have contributed to somehow making the Saints' secondary the furthest thing from a primary concern. However, with all the bullshit he's been through, Delvin Breaux absolutely deserves to be an integral part of what suddenly has the potential to be a special season. As for the Saints themselves? Well, imagine...just imagine that this setback for the recovery of an injury that should have been spotted weeks prior came on the heels of what used to be a "just mark it in your calendar come Sunday" weekly lashing of a Saints' defense that couldn't even cover it's own ass. It wasn't too damn long ago that Delvin Breaux was considered this team's premier defensive back. It wasn't too damn long ago that the Saints were 0-2, Ken Crawley was sitting on the bench for some ungodly reason, DeVante Harris was getting torched quicker than the victory cigar of the person lining up across from him, and all the defensive problems of yesteryear appeared to be anything but fixed. It's not too damn long ago that losing the closest thing on their roster to a proven cover corner due to the malpractice that preceded a recurring, season ending injury would have had everyone invested in this organization's success screaming "oh, not this shit again". That fact that sky didn't immediately fall when this news broke is a credit to what has been an incredible turnaround led by a handful of rookies - most notably, Marshon Lattimore - that are playing far above their pay grade. However, let's not forget the harrowing sense of deja-vu that had even some of the most optimistic members of the Who Dat Nation sentencing themselves to the seemingly inevitable purgatory of yet another 7-9 season after yet another depressingly winless start. I don't know where this team is going but I know where it's been, and that dark, dastardly place is one in which the immediate future of the entire organization could have very well been put in jeopardy by Delvin Breaux's extended stay on the IR. According To ESPN, The Saints Are Likely To Lose To An All-Too-Familiar Opponent This Weekend...11/9/2017 h/t Reddit
I'm not entirely sure which use of 'Saints' was supposed to be replaced with 'Bills' in this ESPN graphic that appears to have been crafted by someone who was 55.7% in the bag at the time. I'd imagine it's the latter given the fact that New Orleans is riding a six-game winning steak and Buffalo is coming off a steamrolling at the hands of the New York Jets' repurposed tank. To be honest, it doesn't really matter because the finished product that appears on the screen is probably the most telling prognostication that a sports network that was just trying to fill dead airtime with meaningless stats has ever conjured up. If I have learned anything about the Sean Payton-led Saints since 2006 it's that whether or not they beat themselves when playing a fairly formidable opponent on the road in weather conditions that are likely to be inclement is more or less a coin flip. More so than the fact that the Carolina Panthers are nipping at their heels with a 6-3 record, the Saints history of churning out self-destructive performances in situations that are suboptimal is what makes this particular matchup so scary/intriguing. Drew Brees has been as efficient as ever this season, but if there's an encore, Packers-esque performance of back-to-back red-zone interceptions then it's going to be a long afternoon. Their two-headed rushing attack should be put to work early and often, but if Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara continue to put the ball on the ground like they have in week's past then whoever took a nap while editing may have accidentally predicted the future. Theoretically, the defense is exactly where it needs to be heading into hostile territory to silence a belligerent mafia of fans who will leave no dildo untossed in trying to distract the visiting team from the task at hand. However, if they start letting the Tre McBride's of the world get loose in their secondary then it might Mitch Trubite-them-in-the-ass this time around. Fumbled punts. Blocked extra points. Senseless penalties. There's no shortage of ways in which the Saints have managed to trip over their own feet while marching to a sure victory in recent years. If this team is actually as different as it's starting to look then they'll head into Buffalo, play mistake-free football, and not only come away on top but come away with a renewed sense that they can handle the type of adversity that would probably await them in the postseason. For once, the Saints are actually built to win this style of game. Whether they do or to will speak a hell of a lot louder about their chances going forward than some random, computer generated percentage in a botched graphic.
In most cases I would say it's unfair for the Milwaukee Bucks - of all teams - to take an unsolicited dig at the lack of promising players on the Chicago Bulls roster. After all, it took them lucking into a once-in-a-lifetime, potentially-not-of-this-planet genetic freak without even punching their ticket for the draft lottery for them to overcome a decade and half of complete irrelevance. That said, I have always been of the mindset that things that are the funniest when they are true, and I'm not even speaking facetiously when I say that 'Benny The Bull' might be the most exciting member of Chicago's professional basketball organization. Keep in mind that this promotion was meant to sell tickets, not rank prospects. So, if you took every Bucks fan from far and wide, from pampers to adult diapers, gave them the following list, and had them circle one Chicago Bull they were most interested in watching... I'd say the 29% of the lists that didn't immediately get crumbled up and thrown in the garbage would come back predominantly Pro-Benny. There might be a couple Lauri Markkanen's mixed in because of his draft position. You might see a few that have both Bobby Portis and Nikola Mirotic circled in hopes of alive rematch. A dunk enthusiast or two might be inclined to pick Zach LaVine. However, considering the unquestioned apathy of adults and the inherent love that children have for people dressed up as animals, 'Benny The Bull' would be the prohibitive favorite for most likely to draw fans. The Milwaukee Bucks definitely threw a sucker punch at a conference foe, but - after looking at that roster - it's tough to argue that it wasn't a financially responsible one.
Well, it's about goddamn time an NFL franchise finally stood up for themselves and did what was necessary to protect their money. The Green Bay Packers should bring all the shame and a subsequent lawsuit to Martellus Bennett. Can you even imagine the gall that it would take to hide an injury in the pursuit of long-term employment? I mean, everything we've heard about the culture of the NFL and the people dying insanely early due to their participation in it leads you to believe that playing through pain is not only allowable, but encouraged. Unfortunately, everyone knows that's under the pretense that the injury occurred after the signing of a sunk-cost contract. If you're going to get paid anyway then you damn well better line that bum ass shoulder up on the end of the offensive line and use it to block 280 pound men that move as swiftly as Olympic athletes that are half their size. On the other hand, if that money has yet to be transferred then you sure a shit better tell your employer about every ache and pain so that they can make it someone else's problem. After all, a thorough physical given by a medical professional is more of a second opinion than a fool-proof defense against greedy football players and their propensity to fib their way into any semblance of financial security. If Martellus Bennett had a degenerative shoulder issue then Martellus Bennett should have diagnosed himself and let the doctor confirm that his 3-year deal was null-and-void. You can sacrifice years of your life and cells of your brain, but don't you dare think about sacrificing the sanctity of full disclosure. UPDATE: How are the Packers starting to look in all this?
Roger Goodell Is Reportedly Irate At The Idea Of His Contract Extension Being Performance-Based11/9/2017 ESPN- A person who spoke recently with Goodell said the commissioner is "furious" about Jones' and other owners' insistence that his next contract's compensation should be more performance-based, including incentives that would allow him to be paid at roughly the same level of his current deal. "He feels as if the owners have made a lot of money and he should be compensated accordingly," the source said. "The incentives thing really angers him."
Goodell has earned a total of more than $200 million since he was elected commissioner in August 2006, including $44 million in 2014 and $34 million in 2015. In May, at the league's spring meetings in Chicago, Jones joined his fellow owners in authorizing the compensation committee to work on extending Goodell's contract. But at the owners' meetings in New York last month, Jones told his fellow owners that Goodell's proposed next contract "is the most one-sided deal ever." -------- First and foremost, it's impossible not to suppress a belly laugh with a condescending "oh realllllly?" when you hear that the man who has been cashing well over 8 figures a year to fill the roles of judge, jury, and executioner against athletes playing on non-guaranteed contracts is bitching about the prospect of having to earn his money. Obviously, part of the reason he's allegedly fuming is because "earning his money" really just means earning more money for a bunch of wealthy, old white dudes who don't care that the President and piss poor quarterback play have made sure that the NFL has nowhere to go but down in terms of popularity. Regardless, Roger Goodell has made $200 million off the backs of people that actually possess a talent (other than the ability to accept a disproportional amount of blame) whose job security is as forever fleeting as Jerry Jones filter. The idea that the shoe being on the other foot has him about ready stomp his feet like a kid being withheld a supermarket sweep of the candy aisle is nothing short of hilarious. All that being said? I would be just as pissed off if I were Roger Goodell. The guy has been taken proverbial bullets for the owners for years, and now they want to protect their future investment because he's riddled with holes? I don't want to come as if I am defending the Commissioner of the NFL, but I think it's fair to say that he's only half as much of a jackass as his constituents demand that he be. If there is one thing we've learned from this kneeling nonsense it's that the vast majority of people that call an NFL franchise their own are irredeemable assholes with priorities that don't extend further than their pockets. If Bob McNair's casually criminal colloquialism didn't prove that to you, then Jerry Jones' hiring of the moral compass-free man that took on the case of one of Hollywood's most reprehensible perverts in Harvey Weinstein should probably do the trick. You can say that Colin Kaepernick accomplished nothing with his protest (even though you'd be very, very wrong), but he somehow managed to turn Roger Goodell into a good guy relative to those that he represents. Before one single knee was taken we would have deemed that nearly as impossible as the job that he's being asked to do in making a multi-billion dollar industry a more profitable entity while it's being used as a political pawn in a game of chess that's destined to end in a stalemate. I shed no tears for a hypocritical buffoon whose annual earnings might drop to 30-35 million dollars a year, but I could see why he'd want to retain his "one-sided deal" when the other side is only slightly less thankless than the NFL is to those that are forced to play through financial insecurity.
(Jim McIsaac | Getty Images)
There's only one thing more worrisome than the fact that John Hynes felt it necessary to sit the Devils' defenseman who without question possesses the unit's best combination of talent and experience during a game against a member of the NHL's elite. That one thing is that for a majority of the game Damon Severson's absence didn't seem all that noticeable. That's not say that New Jersey didn't spend far too much time hemmed into their own end as the game progressed (regressed, from the Devils' perspective), but it is to say that - outside of John Moore's daily dose of stupid - there weren't as many inexcusable turnovers made by a particular defenseman reading the flow of play about as effectively as the fat 3rd grader in 'Billy Madison'. Despite it further crippling them offensively, I imagine Damon Severson was benched for the amount of times this season in which he's had fans, coaches, and teammates alike saying "ta-ta-ta-today junior!". As a player who received a six year commitment in hopes that his impending improvement would be the proverbial book beneath the wobbly leg to a defense that's currently as stable as a drunk on crutches, he simply has to be better. There's no reason to think he won't, but if watching from the suites for a game plays even a slight role in sending him that message then it was ultimately worth it. As for the guys that actually dressed? Well, after the first period it became clear that they were fighting in a higher weight class. It's not a knock on the effort as much as it an indictment of the amount of inactive talent, but they could be Mel Gibson in 'Unbreakable' and they aren't going to be able to keep up with teams like the St. Louis Blues if they don't learn to stay out of the box. You shouldn't expect to win any games in which you take four offensive zone penalties that wouldn't have even led to anything of substance if they weren't called, never mind a game against a team that's markedly superior. I don't have as much of a problem with them getting turned into a one line show by a complete team that prides itself on it's defense as I do with them making life easier for that team by being undisciplined. Considering the amount of laughably unnecessary trips, slashes, and high sticks taken against a roster that ices Vladimir Tarasenko, it wasn't a question of "if" but "when". The later I've been asking myself all season as they continued their march to the box for infractions that aren't remotely helpful in keeping pucks out of their net. Anyway, a hat tip goes out to Cory Schneider who most definitely won't get the credit he deserves for keeping the score closer than the actual gameplay. Hopefully the seemingly prompt return of Kyle Palmieri to a lineup that's been forced to play way over it's head without him will help ease the burden on everyone (and, fingers crossed, break up the 'Low IQ Line' of Wood/Zacha/Hayes) before the early season irrational optimism runs out...
Whoa baby! Jalen Ramsey is out here spitting his version of facts and those hocked loogies might as well be landing right between the eyes of A.J. Green. Granted, we probably should have seen this overly critical scouting report of the Bengals' most trusted playmaker coming as soon as he twice tried to choke the life out of the Jaguars' cornerback that rendered him completely irrelevant. Jalen Ramsey was surely something slightly less than silent in the act of keeping A.J. Green quiet, but - as is the case when someone doesn't even face suspension for trying to sneak you from behind then slam you though the turf - he has no reason to turn his volume down now. And this, my friends, is why you have to stick to your M.O. if you're known as the calm, cool, collected athlete. There's no shortage of reasons why you probably shouldn't repeatedly try to dent an NFL helmet with your fist, but none the least of which is gifting the upper hand to someone who now has every right to deliver low blows. Jalen Ramsey is just about the last opponent you want with a microphone in front of him, and the backing of the vast majority of the general public behind him. Simply put, calling someone "weak" and "soft" to the media is liable to make you look bad...unless you got jumped for - more or less - being too dominant in proving that person soft and weak when it actually mattered. Almost have to make the trash talk worth the while when the person it's directed at can't possibly offer a retort.
Well then, nothing amps up a Western Canadian rivalry quite like a little inter-conference infidelity! You want to jump those boards? Not without having the sanctity of your marriage threatened! Coaches are always going on and on about sacrificing for the good of the team, but nothing highlights that philosophy quite like having to choose between winning hockey over happily-ever-after. I'd imagine that said wife might have some say in this scenario coming to fruition, but if she's game then that home may have to end up wrecked on behalf on a happy locker room. And people say that the culture surrounding violent sports can be unnecessarily volatile and machismo-driven? HA! On the contrary, I think it was pretty nice of whomever is out their thinking about destroying lifelong unions to let the person engaged in said union know before violating the mother of his children. Nothing worse than coming home from a long road trip to the surprise of finding a member of a division rival closing the gap between your marital sheets. This might be a laughably over-the-top and ridiculously unclever display of shit-talking by a player who forgot his wit in the locker room, but if it's a forewarning of retaliatory adultery then it's a fairly earnest one. h/t @MannyElk
NBCSports- As part of an agreement with Head and Shoulders — a favorite of Henrik Lundqvist’s — the goaltenders for the Swedish national team will wear pads featuring the shampoo bottles during all competitions this season except for the Olympics and World Championships.
“No, it’s just a sticker on my regular leg protection. [You] don’t even notice it’s on,” said Jhonas Enroth via Aftonbladet. Along with Enroth, Magnus Hellberg and Linus Söderström will also be donning the shampoo pads when Sweden opens up the Karjala Cup Wednesday against the Czech Republic. While the unique looking pads don’t bother Enroth, one former Swedish netminder isn’t too pleased with what he sees. “Three Crowns are the people’s team. Focus on the Three Crowns on the chest. Now the focus is on something else, [like] everyone who has dandruff,” said goaltender-turned-broadcaster Mikael Tellqvist. “If you have to advertise on the national [team uniform], I think there should be something that is genuine and that feels serious in some way.” ------ I'm inclined to say that these pads (or pad stickers) are ugly as sin, but I'm pretty sure that even the most white-collar of sins isn't as shameless and conspicuous in being financially influenced as these puck-stopping eye-sores. I've obviously heard of product placement, but I can't help but think that what was once a subtle, subconscious marketing tool has been mistreated by taking a picture of the product, blowing it up to 10x it's original size, slapping some adhesive on the back, and jamming it in everyone's sight lines. I know the success of hair care's predominant dandruff shampoo is predicated on scaring people into buying it, but weren't they doing a good enough job of that with commercials that featured actors walking through largely appalled public places with an entire international ice surface full of shavings spread amidst their follicles? Was it really necessary to use grotesque goalie equipment to make the sport feel so impure and unclean that the viewer suddenly feels the innate urge to jump back in the shower and grab a particular brand of shampoo? Anyway, I suppose there is a slight positive here. If Sweden's netminders are already going to look stupid by way of obnoxious advertisements then that should free them of the pressures of being made to look stupid by way of piss poor performance. Let's hope that now-lifted burden is what was holding Jhonas Enroth back from keeping an NHL job, because wearing 'Head & Shoulders' on your knees and toes is just begging for a "nice hands, feet"-style joke when/if a recently retired American relives his glory days by firing one under his crest of crowns and through his egregiously sponsored wickets.
CharlotteObserver- Howard is still dunking on everybody, to an extent it’s changing how teams must guard the Hornets. Last season, according to Elias Sports Bureau, the Hornets scored off just 17 lob passes the entire season.
This season, entering Tuesday’s road game against the New York Knicks, the Hornets have completed 10 lob plays, with plenty more to come. “It’s really exciting,” Kemba Walker said. “I’m always praying, ‘Just please: Grab it, catch it, dunk it.’ It’s just a feeling of joy!” Walker and Howard connected on two lob passes in the first half Sunday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Howard immediately noticed the reaction from Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau. “I saw coach Thibs saying, ‘You’ve got to get in on the roll!’ and guys were saying, ‘Oh, man, you throw the ball that high and he jumps, what are we supposed to do?’ Howard said. “It’s really about timing: Reading the defense, body language,” Howard said. “I’ve been showing those guys how to throw that pass, and when it can be most effective.” ------ Under the assumption that the rest of the Charlotte Hornets roster hasn't been living in some alternate universe where wildly athletic big man with extremely limited offensive skill sets are forbidden from touching the rim, I'm really proud of them for going out of their way to make Dwight Howard feel important. Of course, his presence alone opens up a range of scoring options in which touch around the basket isn't required, but speaking about an alley-oop as if they are some awe-inspiring lesson that can change the way basketball will be played forever? Well, that is literally a play straight out of a Will Ferrell sports parody... Look, I'm not completely sure what personality traits - other than irrational confidence and sociopathic tendencies - have made it so damn hard for Dwight Howard to fit in with the half dozen teams that have passed him on for pennies on the dollar. But considering his repetitive demands for post-ups and his offseason insistence on working on his three-pointer despite not being able to knock down a free throw, I have no choice but to think it has something to do with him needing to feel needed. I say the following under the pretense that Kemba Walker has actually played against DeAndre Jordan in his career; I applaud him for treating the person who "opened his eyes" to a staple of every single NBA offense like an infant that managed to slam the round peg in the round hole. Never has a mid-season Dwight Howard interview read so genuinely enthusiastic even without the presence of a fake smile, so I guess those exaggerated ooh's and half-serious aah's are having the desired effect. As it turns out, dumbing down the offense wasn't the key to getting Dwight Howard to step in off the 'Welcome' mat to feel appreciated. Having his teammates dumb down their fundamental knowledge of basketball so that he felt smart was. I bet the Atlanta Hawks wish they knew that all they had to do was treat his dunks like original and mind blowing exposures of systematic flaws to keep him from becoming a malcontent. Then they surely would have thought twice before flipping him for Mason Plumlee. LiAngelo Ball, And Two Of His UCLA Teammates, Got Busted Shoplifting While In China For A Game11/7/2017
(Getty Images)
Well, well, well...LiAngelo Ball gets caught red-handed while jacking swagger overseas, but we all knows whose mitts are really covered in his proverbial blood. With the way LaVar has all-but-ostracized his second child by treating him like a normal college kid instead of one of his sponsored athletes, it was only a matter of time before the forgotten brother acted out after being shunned as the young Khloe Kardashian of the Ball boys. Hell, I didn't even know there was currently a Ball brother enrolled at UCLA and that speaks louder volumes about LiAngelo's importance to the family business than even his bombastic dad ever has. His father all-but-branded him the smallest of the 'Big Ballers' by refusing to give him his own sneaker so it was basically inevitable that it resulted in him playing an embarrassing brand of small ball that would make LaVar drag his team off the court in disgust mid-game. Can't say I would have predicted him doing some small-time crime outside of the country, but - with LaVar spending the majority of his time clamoring for Lonzo to get more unproductive touches - that middle child syndrome was bound to rear it's ugly head in a big way at some point. Absolutely stunning that it came in the form of a wildly unnecessary, headline grabbing, shameless cry for attention. Lord only knows where he could have possibly learned that technique from. J.R. Smith Was Asked To Explain LeBron James' Meme Usage During His Teammate's "Personal Day"11/7/2017
With the good comes the bad, I suppose. J.R. Smith rode the LeBron James' express train to an NBA Championship that was sandwiched in between two other Finals appearances and now he to pay the remaining balance on his tickets...by answering to a vague, passive aggressive use of a meme that was not only 2000-and-late, but also poorly described to him by a reporter. It's undoubtedly worth it, but this is at least part of the downside that comes with playing alongside the most high maintenance superstar in professional sports. In fact, you can present a pretty strong - if not undeniable - argument that this is exactly the type of online tomfoolery that ultimately has the person that it's potentially aimed at currently mowing down the Eastern Conference while exploring greener pastures. Now, J.R. Smith is no Kyrie Irving so he'll gladly accept the responsibility of talking around the meaning of a vague Instagram post that he hasn't seen as an occupational hazard. Still, it absolutely has to be exhausting coming into "the office" knowing that any given day your "co-worker" can make the more mundane aspects of your job more difficult when he's not even there. (Mike Comer/Getty Images)
SportingNews- Georgia Tech self-reported violations involving it’s basketball program last week saying Josh Okogie and Tadric Jackson received improper benefits from an unnamed person totaling no more than $1,275 between the two. However, Ron Bell, a former friend of Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner, claims to be that unnamed person and told CBS Sports those figures are "not even close." Bell outlined the cost of benefits he provided the two Yellow Jackets players that included everything from plane tickets, shoes, groceries and a four-night stay at his Arizona home, which he proved with a photo of Okogie and Jackson in his pool. According to Georgia Tech, Pastner had no knowledge of the improper benefits until Oct. 2 when he immediately reported them to to the university’s compliance office. Bell, who’s phone records show he spoke to Paster over the phone 10 separate time for a total of 105 minutes Oct. 2, said that claim is “absolutely not” true. During those 10 calls, Bell said he threatened to expose Pastner, who said nobody would believe Bell (a recovering addict) because he spent four years in prison from 2009-13. "I told him 'I hold your career in my hands. You're going to show me respect.' ... I said, 'I've been protecting you for two years. And if you don't watch yourself, if I start self-reporting, you're going to be coaching high school basketball,’" Bell said. "And he said, 'Are you threatening me?' And I remember it like it was yesterday. I said, 'Josh, I don't make threats. Everything I say I'm going to do, I do it.'" Pastner responded to the CBS Sports report with the following statement: "As I have throughout my career, I remain committed to following NCAA rules. Any allegations that NCAA rules weren't followed will be investigated thoroughly by our compliance department while I focus on coaching my team." Bell mentioned several reasons why his relationship turned sour with Pastner, saying the reigning ACC Coach of the Year didn't compensate him for the “work” he did and disrespected him by not calling him on his birthday this year. -------- Welp, that'll do it. There's goes my chances at coaching in the ACC. I suppose it was already a long shot considering my 'March Madness'-centric knowledge of college basketball, but having to remember the day of birth of every person that helped me out along the way is undoubtedly a breaker for that non-existent deal. There's only so much I am capable of and scoring the nation in recruitment of the best high school hoopers is probably closer to falling under that umbrella than the patience and attentiveness required to place a call to every person in my social circle on their birthday. I wasn't aware that boosters and "friends of the program" were so needy but now that I do? Pretty sure I'm more cut out for coaching in the professional circuit, because I'd be one procrastinated dial away from getting exposed for all the financial violations I would need others to commit on my behalf in order to bring talent to the school that would never hire me anyway. I have no idea whether or not Georgia Tech's Josh Pastner had any prior knowledge that these illegally compensated sabbaticals were taken place on his (now former) good buddy's dime prior to the day he reported it. I do know that if I were him I'd hit Facebook and start shooting off happy belated's with the fire of 1,000 high school acquaintances just in case he has any other "friends" that think forgetting the date in which they got dumped into this world is potentially worthy of NCAA-instituted sanctions. |
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