There’s some big game going on but before we get to that, I’m going to update you on the very few non-football related stories I have. Ok, so I only have one: its Bob Knight and the possibility of him coming to the University of Georgia. But like Furman Bisher of the Atlana Journal Constitution writes (the second coolest name for a newspaper; Contra Costa Times is the best), Coach Knight will come but only in his way.
I know his reputation precedes him and any program would be lucky to have him but I always thought that his way made better men more than anything. I remember reading an article a few years back about the graduation rates according to coaches and his Indiana teams always had the majority of the team graduating and that always left me with a sense that this guy understood that they were a student first and athlete second. What happens ten years later when these guys leave school early and have no formal education in anything? Things seem to pile up and so I always have had the utmost respect for Bobby Knight, no matter hwat kind of attention he got.
Ok, so I was lying, there is ONE more non-football related news worthy item to report. Nick Cafardo baseball insider for the Boston Globe gives us the scoop on some note worthy items on the hot stove front.
What interested me most about this article was the view on Jason Varitek and how you judge a catcher like him. He’s the captain and a guy that Scott Boras his agent said, “didn’t allow him to negotiate with any other team.” But here’s a guy that was a captain and his leadership has helped his pitching staff but those are all tangible things that you have to take into consideration. Especially for a team that prides itself on being able to use statistics to assign each player a value. It was an important deal for both sides.
Otherwise, I thought the part about Omar Minaya being asked about Manny Ramirez and him laughing it off was interesting. His stance was always to say his first option was pitching and that the offense isn’t even in his plans. Since Jeff Wilpon went on record to say that Manny’s name was never brought up in organizational meetings, Omar has backed off on the non-Manny talk and been more open by adding that he wants to add one more bat to the line up, and I doubt he was talking about Bobby Kielty who also got a shoutout thanks to his days as Red Sox.
Ok, now to the Super Bowl, and before we even get into that, let’s get into some unusual and pressing storylines involved with the Super Bowl. First, Brenda Warner (Kurt’s wife) is making news again, and for the same reason again: her hair. She looks like what Sarah Palin would in blonde hair let down.
Sam Farmer of the LA Times looks at how the financial times are affecting the Super Bowl. Finally, Dan Majors of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, covers the story of a guy who’s been to every single Super Bowl!
First off, its amazing how many newspapers are writing stories about Brenda Warner. Her hair the first time caught my eye and I wondered exactly what the fan mentioned in the story wondered, whether it was Kurt’s mom that was rooting for him. But now she looks young and well, hot. Very much cougar like. But seriously, one more day and we don’t have to hear about puppies and Brenda Warner’s hair ever again.
As for the financial discussion, what I thought was really interesting was the fact that ticket prices were brought down yet advertising costs for a company to run the ad went up again to a whopping $3 million per 60 second ad and NBC collecting the most amount of money EVER for advertisements. RIP to the Sports Illustrated and Playboy magazine parties which always look like a ton of fun. The more interesting part may be that they are anticipating a lot worse for next year’s event because by the time the economy took a turn for the worse, a lot of companies had already OK’d Super Bowl spending and it would be thought of as un-cool to not go since they had RSVP’d. But now that the economy’s downward trend has put a lot of people off already and most companies suffering through this slow economy, look for next year’s Miami shindig to be less than stellar. The fact that a lot of players even didn’t bother to show up are very compelling.
As for the guy who’s come to every single Super Bowl: I hate him and admire him at the same time. Both for reasons that are fairly obvious.
Here are a few site related stories. First, Joey Johnston of the Tampa Tribune creates the All-Florida Super Bowl team and there are a few doozies on this list.
The Tampa Bay Bucaneers last played in the Super Bowl in 2002 when they defeated the Oakland Raiders. But the talk leading up to the game was Barret Robbins. Gwen Knapp of the San Fran Chronicle tries to catch up with the former Raider.
I was captivated by this list to see how many college players there were because there are a lot of big program guys that left Florida to lay the seed of greatness elsewhere.
Speaking of leaving Florida, I’m sure Barret Robbins is a guy who would love to forget that part of his life. God be with him and his recovery.
Dan Pompei of the Chicago Tribune looks into the process of coaches relinquishing play calling duties.
While directly relating this to the Chicago Bears current situation, I think on a more national level, coaches like to have play calling duties because nowadays, genius coordinators are being handed the reins and are unable to remove the former job description from their current assignment. More important to the game is the coach’s ability to manage it within the game and construct a good game plan while allowing your assistants to take care of the rest. Mean while, as a coach you have to look over other things more broad than just X’s and O’s. You have to approve the game plans and have everything else to worry about in the game to add something like play calling to the list. Other than the example of Todd Haley getting the assignment from Coach Whisenhut at the beginning of this year (remember Coach Whisenhut was a former Offensive coordinator), there’s also Marty Morninwheg from Philly getting the play calling duties after Andy Reid scrated that off from his every Sunday things to do list. Both teams made the switch and both teams have been better because of it.
Some new coaches that may have a hard time in doing so are Rex Ryan the new Jets coach and Josh McDaniels the new Broncos head coach. Both very good coordinators and considered geniuses who had independent reign over their side of the ball.
Speaking of problems, the Chula Vista mayor wants to know why information is being released by the San Diego Chargers about costs as it relates to a new stadium.
Well that’s a simple one to answer mayor, they want a new stadium to make more revenue for the team but they don’t want to reveal how much it will cost John Q. Taxpayer to scare them off. Duhh!
Legendary New York Times columnist Dave Anderson looks at the five teams that still have never reached the big game.
Forget winning the whole thing, just getting there has been tough for these five in Houston, Jacksonville, New Orleans, Cleveland and Detroit. I don’t know who I feel sorry for, Cleveland or Detroit. Detroit after its 0-16 season and the way the once mighty car companies have been on its hands and knees for a bail out or the second reincarnation of the Cleveland Browns that have carried on the less than stellar tradition of the first incarnation of the Browns team as posterchilds for futility in big championship games. I know in the 30’s through 50’s they probably won a few, but we are talking the Super Bowl era. I don’t feel bad for the other 3 seeing as how Jacksonville hasn’t even seen 20 years in the NFL, and neither New Orleans or Houston have the kind of history that makes you look at the franchise and feel sorry for it.
Hall of Famers were announced and we have reactions on those that got in and those that didn’t.
Jason Whitlock writes about Derrick Thomas’ induction while Jeff Legwold of the Rocky Mountain News writes about Shannon Sharpe’s un-inclusion (word?)
Tony Grossi goes into even more in depth detail of the Hall of Fame voting process.
Derrick Thomas’ induction was valid because like I said in yesterday’s post, he was a terror when I saw him play. Shannon Sharpe not being one is kind of a shock considering he holds every record that a tight end has ever held. The rule that only seven can be inducted is just plain foolish. Tony Grossi’s article was very interesting because it went really in depth as to what goes down in a nearly 7 hour meeting of the minds when immortalizing some and leaving others waiting for next year.
Every city has its claim to some connection to the Super Bowl participants. Here’s a very good one about Dallas’ connection with the Cardinals. Kevin Sherrington introduces you to Stan Mauldin. Gil Lebreton remembers Pat Tillman and talks about his influence over the Cardinals in today’s game.
Gotta love the puff pieces before the Super Bowl.
The QB class of 2004 is getting quite the hardware. Seeing as how two of the big three have already won titles, and one is going for his second, it seems that the new wave of big time players are coming at the QB position. Mike Klis talks about the revolutionary class of 2004.
This is going to be discussed long past their primes and well into retirements and when they finally get enshrined into the Hall of Fame (barring any major set backs and regressions). This will never end so we won’t bother discussing it now. Why? When we have to return to this question 20 years from now.
Finally why act like its not going to happen. Here are all the betting lines for tonight’s game. Bet with caution and may everyone have a safe night.
Final Score: Cardinals 28
Steelers 24
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