Hat tip to my main man, Dewey for the slammin' artwork.
Friday, October 8, 2010
Thierry Henry Sneaks A Look
God bless Eva Longoria who is still looking fine as wine! Here she roots on her hubby Tony Parker, while French soccer superstar Thierry Henry looks on, or, er, "in" so to speak.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
The Lombardi Trophy, Before There Even Was A Lombardi Trophy
File this under "things I never really thought about, or even knew".
The E:60 piece about Dan Snyder's desire to engrave his dad's name on the Lombardi Trophy got me to wondering: "Do teams even do that?"
Answer: Yes, and No. The Redskins have done it, the Giants have apparently done it, the Steelers have done it.
But not the Packers. At least not the first two of them.
So I suppose the engraving is up to the team.
Which got me to Google-wondering: "What the hell was the NFL's championship trophy before the league's merged?"
Answer: THIS ol' warhorse of a tarnish silver chalice. The ol' "Ed Thorp" Trophy, named after - a REFEREE!
Redskins blogger Matt Terl picks it up from here:
In the early part of the 20th century, Ed Thorp was a referee and friend to prominent early NFL owners. After he died in 1934, the league created a trophy to honor him. Unlike the modern Lombardi trophies, this trophy did not become possession of the winning team, but instead spent a year with the winning team before being passed on to the next year’s champion, much like the NHL’s Stanley Cup.
The Redskins were the winners of this trophy in 1937 and 1942, but that trophy is NOT in Redskins Park.
(In fact, no one knows where that trophy is. The prevailing theory is that the Minnesota Vikings – who were the last to win the Ed Thorp Memorial Trophy, in 1969 – somehow lost it when the league switched over to the Lombardi Trophy the following year. Which is an impressive feat; if this were baseball, there would have been books and stories and TV specials about the Curse of Ed Thorp, especially when the Vikings lost three out of four Super Bowls in the mid-1970s. But it’s the NFL, so apparently everyone just sort of shrugs and looks embarrassed by the whole thing.)
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Mr. Snyder, We're Ready For Your Close Up
The much anticipated (by Skins fans, at least) E:60 feature on Dan Snyder last night was disappointing, to say the least. Not only did it lack any kind of journalistic teeth, but it lacked even the basic balance you would have expected.
One of my local sports radio brethren who was included in the piece, Eric Bickel of the Sports Junkies, had an excellent take on the disappointment of the piece in his blog entry on MASN.
Dan says very early on in the interview with Nichols that he is very shy around the media because he's taken such a beating over the years. He plays the victim card very nicely. But it's a joke. Please give me all the incidents where Dan Snyder was unfairly criticized?
Was he unfairly criticized when he started suing his own fans last year when they couldn't maintain their season ticket plans in the middle of a recession? Was it a low blow to complain about how he has jacked up ticket prices to levels that have essentially priced out the average fan, while producing only two playoff wins in 10 years?
Maybe nobody should complain about having to pay $25 for the privilege of parking a mile away from the stadium and taking a bus into the game? Or how about the time he tried to ban walking to the stadium, just because he wanted to make as much off of parking as possible? I'm sure fans loved when he tried to make everybody purchase tickets using a Redskins credit card too.
Look, everybody makes mistakes. And Snyder is slowly owning up to some of them, to his credit. But let's paint the whole picture please. This is a guy that's been a ruthless businessman through the years. He's fired long-time employees and public relations people at a rate equivalent to the number of coaches he's gone through.
When you hide in the middle of an entourage and fly in on your chopper or private plane, fans have a hard time relating to you. Ted Leonsis is a very wealthy man too; yet you can go up to Ted at the Verizon center and shake his hand. He'll talk to you about the team. He seems to care about your opinion. He'll even give you his email address. If Dan Snyder is in the room, it's like he's surrounded by the secret service. It's absurd. I've witnessed it firsthand.
These are just some of the issues that have upset the fans over the years - In my opinion, none of them unjustified either. So who's really been the victim here? I'd say it's us the fans.
REACT: Indeed, the fans only got quick and short mention in this piece, which I suppose was by design. It was supposed to be a "who is Dan Snyder" piece not a "how pissed off are Redskins fans" piece.
Still, these kinds of fluff pieces by E:60 only further weaken the brand of that show, which by its looks and faux "newsroom" intro, aspires to be in the 60 Minutes or Real Sports league.
Well, clearly, it's not.
UPDATE: Holy, shit, I AM AN IDIOT!!!! It turns out, the Lombardi trophy DOES have names of players and owners and coaches on it! I never knew! They are engraved on the rear panels of the tri-panel stand. I had previously riffed on this on various radio shows, and I have Dan Sndyer like free-agent egg on my face right now. Apologies, Dan.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Damn, Girl!
Serena Williams is recovering from a mysteriously "cut foot" that happened - she says - in a restaurant way back in July.
Her story, such as it is, goes like this: I cut both feet on top and bottom, walking out of a dark restaurant in Berlin, Germany. I don't know how it happened. Why it happened, who is responsible, or basically anything. I am not suing the restaurant, or filing charges, and I had to miss the US Open. But oh, well, I still got to host a cool fashion party wearing high heel shoes.
Uhhhhh huh.
Well, never mind all that nonsense, how about this smokin' hot picture of her with straight hair!
THAT's Serena Williams now?? Wowza!
I mean, she still has a 'Hood Approved caboose on her, and she'll chew your head to a nub if you call too many foot faults.
But look at her here. Spectacular. I don't even know what she got done to look this good, but I say, keep on doing it!
Sporting News Radio Chime
A guy wanted me to post this, and make available on website.
For all who want it - here is the Sporting News Radio Chime
For all who want it - here is the Sporting News Radio Chime
Monday, October 4, 2010
"Absolutely Crushing Pressure"
Hunter Mahan signed up for this. He wasn't drafted. He didn't get picked randomly out of the PGA Tour phone book and summoned like jury duty.
This is why golfers play the game. This is the price they agree to pay, if they are on the wrong side of destiny.
Mahan had a dance with a lifetime of glory on Monday morning at Celtic Manor. He could have been Justin Leonard, who will dine out until he's old and wrinkled on that miraculous putt at Brookline.
Instead, Mahan has this chip. This chub. This stabbed, feeble finish under golf's most searing pressure.
It will forever live in golf low-light history. It will be on many Golf Channel Top 10 shows.
And no, it is not fair. In the least.
Golf isn't about fair.
He knows this. His teammates do too.
I am an even bigger fan of Mahan now than I already was. I'm even a fan of just about all the golfers on both sides of the draw at this Ryder Cup, and for that matter, past Ryder Cups.
(Okay, for the record, you can have Overton for us, and Poulter for them, if you must know. The rest, I'm cool with. Even Cheetah. But just barely. Anyway...)
I am in awe, and appreciation of how these guys can operate under such golfing heat. What happened in the final hour on Monday morning was nothing short of absolutely crushing pressure.
Hell, just look at that photo of Mahan, post chub!
That sea of eyeballs, staring at him, the collective hushed silence of 40,000 fans, must have sucked the oxygen out of the entire Usk Valley.
Anybody who has ever taken back a golf club in earnest, knows the sensation of "somebody is watching me hit!"
In fact, it is probably the FIRST feeling of nervousness a beginner to the game experiences. Golf is so much about not looking foolish in front of other humans, that when more people are watching you, and more is at stake, the more your mouth dries to dust, and your hands start trembling like guitar strings.
A foursome on the first tee is waiting behind you on Saturday morning. You nervous?
A small gallery of club members is watching your match behind the 18th green. More nervous?
Perhaps you are playing in a college tournament, and now there are a hundred or so people watching you. Still nervous?
Of course you are. This never goes away. Not even for grizzled tour pros.
Now, imagine being there in Mahan's spot. LOOK at all those eyeballs! If a single set of eyeballs can impart pressure on a human being trying to deftly strike a round white pellet with a crooked stick - then imagine 40,000 eyeballs!
Those collective eyeballs are enough to melt a bronze statue, much less a human being.
Graeme McDowell was up to the moment. But it could have easily been the other way around. Props to him, and the Euros.
But props to the men who put themselves in this golfing arena, for our visceral enjoyment.
They volunteered for this. Glory or infamy.
Great show, lads. Great exhibition. The game of golf, the game of a lifetime, was a winner again.
See you in Medinah, in two years.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Put A Fork In Him...
Who knows how many carries Clinton Portis gets Sunday against the Eagles. But I do know this: he likely won't get another 20-plus carry day in his Redskins career.
Not after Portis pulled the Robert Duran "No Mas" equivalent last week by diving against the Rams.
The story is convoluted, but if you care to sort it out, Dan Steinberg does a decent job here in his DC Sports Bog.
Basically, it all adds up to needless fake "intrigue" about Portis' "role" now with the Skins.
"Role?"
He's cooked. You don't see the grill marks?
A running back taking a full on DIVE in the OPEN FIELD is utterly unheard of in the NFL. And if you are paid like an "elite back" (Portis has CASHED over $50 million from the Redskins ALONE!) you break these runs to the house!
An elite back finds a sliver of daylight, charges through it, and then starts mashing every X-button, right trigger, Playstation-silly move he has to keep the yard meter running.
And yet here was Portis. Shanahan said he had an ouchy on his wrist. Portis said he was coached to do it that way.
Whatever.
I know most Redskins fans with rudimentary Adobe skillz aren't buying it. Here are a few of my favorites.
Here's the full gallery of Photoshop spoofs, for your enjoyment.
Friday, October 1, 2010
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