Fighting Talker

Militant Nats fans want to do this to the Post

Of course, I am not shocked, sports fans always whine about the coverage of their favorite teams. I bet somewhere there are even Yankee fans complaining about their own network, YES, which covers them the same way Radio Havana covers Cuba. (All hail our Líder Máximo Derek Jeter!)

But at the urging of peeved Nats fans, Dan Steinberg over at the Sports Bog has investigated the matter of local teams (Part I, Part II) under served by the media and found that the Nats have nothing to complain about other than the team on the field.  (more…)

Terrele Pryor a Headcase? Uh oh.

I talked to someone very close to the Ohio State football program yesterday and he was very concerned about the road ahead for young Mr. Pryor. The adjustment to college is not going to be an easy one after you’ve been told for so long that you are the greatest player in the history of mankind.

This can only go well.

Thank you once again to Deadspin:

You know, we’re starting to think that the only things that would survive a nuclear holocaust would be cockroaches, Kevin Federline and Matt Millen. And at least the cockroaches would feel kind of guilty about it.

That made me laugh way too loudly in my cubicle today.

Full marks to Deadspin for finding this. My personal favorite is a tie between Hoepnner and Zook.

No, Bears fans, you cannot win a Super Bowl with a quarterback who chucks the ball to the secondary whenever he runs out of other ideas.

Other quick thoughts on the game:

• Jay Mariotti (who I typically loath, despite him being my long lost Italian twin brother) takes Rexy out to the woodshed in his column. Mariotti is the kind of conceded prick who takes extra joy destroying Grossman after the stiff QB called him and other media members “ignorant. Here are some highlights:

So, who’s ignorant now? Rex Grossman called out the analysts who wondered why he throws hideous interceptions and fumbles simple snaps, then responded in his defining game by throwing hideous interceptions and fumbling simple snaps. When challenged to win a sterling silver trophy in the fourth quarter, Bad Rex played like he didn’t belong. And if that’s harsh, let me remind him it was the Super Bowl and that he may never return again.

Snip

To be fair, Grossman is a young player who never should have been in this position and had no chance in this mismatch. Also, the Bears went 56 actual minutes between offensive snaps, having to wait out the marksmanship of Manning and the halftime screams of Prince. And so much for the theory rain would favor the Chicago team and hurt the dome team.

The Bears had their butts kicked and their brains picked.

Which means — gulp — that Denny Green was right. We will not crown their asses.

• Jim Nantz and Phil Simms just wussed up the broadcast, never talking about anything that might upset or even pique the interest of their corporate overlords. They hardly even mentioned the rain! This article from Slate sums up the phenomenon pretty well.
• Well done to Paul and Amy for hosting a great party… best Super Bowl party I’ve been to in some time.

I’ll have more thoughts once I get home. Ttyl

Woman Chooses to Induce Labor Early So Husband Can Go to Bears Game

PALOS HEIGHTS, Ill. Jan 22, 2007 (AP)— Nine months pregnant and married to a fervent Bears fan with tickets to Sunday’s NFC Championship game, Colleen Pavelka didn’t want to risk going into labor during the game against the New Orleans Saints. Due to give birth on Monday, Pavelka’s doctor told her Friday she could induce labor early. She opted for the Friday delivery.

“I thought, how could (Mark) miss this one opportunity that he might never have again in his life?” said Pavelka, 28, from the southwestern Chicago suburb of Homer Glen.

I have spent many years arguing with people that being a fan is not necessarily a lifelong unwavering commitment. Others say that you should always be there thru thick or thin. I agree, but that depends only what “thin” is. If thin is a good effort with players that are too old/young/non-talented but they go out there and try - then yes, it’s hard to go throwing the team under the bus. But what if the team is terribly managed? What if the team is arrogant? What if the team treats its fans like shit?

What if that team is the Redskins?

What if Daniel Snyder is taking advantage of the unwavering loyalty of Redskins fans to take our money and put dreck on the field?

What if, by supporting the dreck, you in fact enable it to continue?

This is the point Paul Doyle makes in today’s Guardian, though he makes regarding Liverpool and not the Skins. But his points stand up. Bolded emphasis is mine.

Here’s the unpalatable truth for anyone who admires what Liverpool Football Club once was: the club’s fans deserve to dine on the steaming dung they were served up last night. Because as a crowd (not as individuals), they’re dumb.

Snip

Midway through the second half of last night’s shambles, Liverpool fans began booming out ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ with such gusto that anyone tuning in at that precise moment would have assumed the home side were comfortably ahead. But, of course, they weren’t. They were being rogered 5-1. Once again, then, the Liverpool faithful, like the loyal sheep of certain other clubs, were wallowing in failure. And this morning many of them smugly expect everyone to congratulate them for that by agreeing that they’re “the greatest fans in the world”, or some such swill.

Belting out your devotion to a club when it is, yet again, blatantly underachieving is not being a “true fan” any more than cheering on an alcoholic every time he downs a jug of vodka is being a true friend. Like a man suffering from an addiction, a once-great club hooked on mediocrity and half-success needs a mighty metaphorical boot in the hole. It needs to be shaken out of its self-defeating stupor. Sure, when you see signs of a willingness to get better, then rousing outpourings of affection may be appropriate, but until that point is reached, you’ve got to be cruel to be kind (like I’m being here, see).

Snip

So let’s be clear: rather than pledge their allegiance to the unacceptable, Liverpool fans should have walked out en masse shortly after half-time in yesterday’s debacle. And made it plain that until they’re convinced that Liverpool could win the Premiership (nothing less should do) they will not be paying into Anfield, nor buying replica jerseys, official merchandise or Benítez’s guff about not having enough money to rival the big three (when you’ve spunked £6.7m on Arsenal reject Jermaine Pennant, £7m on one season wonder(ish) Peter Crouch and oh-my-god-how-bloody-much?! on busy-but-aimless strikers such as Craig Bellamy and Dirk Kuyt, do you really deserve to be entrusted with even more funds, even if they were available?

I couldn’t have put it any better myself. By continuing to support a team/organization/whatever that misperforms repeatedly, you only enable it to repeat. If Redskin fans really mobilized and began to publically embaress Snyder with boycotts, protests and stunts… they might be able to do some good.

Last season, season ticketholder to Middlesborough ran onto the field and lit his season ticketholder on fire in front of the manager. That’s what I mean. It doesn’t even have to be that dramatic, but fans have to do something. Otherwise, we’re just never going to get any better. How long will we wait for?

At some point fans have to say we are sick of being mistreated this way. We are customers afterall. Would you let a restaurant treat you like the Redskins do? Would you let a bank treat you like the Redskins do?

Why should they be any different?

Why should your standards not be higher considering how much you pay for tickets/parking/etc?

I know mine are.

Not much else you can really say. Once Ginn got hurt, OSU couldn’t possibly stay with Florida in a shootout and that, as they say, was that.

Our interior lines (both of them) looked dreadful, and without Ginn, what little offensive creativity Tressel is capable of was immediately stiffled. In light of our loss, one question really has been pinging around my head.

From Deadspin today:

The NFL analyst who shall not be named (ed: subsquently found to be ESPN analyst Sean Salisbury) that took a picture of his penis with a cell phone camera and has shown it to numerous, uncomfortable women, then was suspended by his network for it. Absolute true story. Please make sure to clean off the mirror when you are done with it.
Snip
I’m also wondering what Harold Reynolds could have done that was much worse than this. What did Reynolds do, run around showing people pictures of Peter Gammons’ junk?

Now who among us hasn’t run around showing grainy pictures of our anatomy to girls. Lemme tell you something - that trick used to work great at Hillel.

University of Phoenix Stadium is hosting tonights BCS National Championship game tonight and for most Americans, it will be their first opportunity to see one of the most striking stadiums in all of America.

This stadium, along with the renovated Soldier Field in Chicago were the first in the rebirth of Football Stadium Architecture.

In the past 10-20 years, NFL owners have built unremarkable bowls with decent sitelines, less-than-thrilling architecture and as many seats and suites as they could squeeze in. When ketchup bottles, pirate ships, and lighthouses are the only things remarkable about a stadium it’s a bad sign for their designs. And those three examples (Pittsburgh, Tampa and Foxboro) are some of the better ones. Look at the stadiums in Washington (and utter disgrace we’ll talk about later), Charlotte, and Jacksonville. Some mildly decent ones include Qwest Field in Seattle (notable only for covered stands and that odd stand behind one endzone) and Ford Field (interesting on the inside, hideous from outside.

But finally, NFL owners are starting to take some pride in their stadiums rather than just forcing the city to build them and build them as fast as possible.

Jerry Jones’ new Dallas stadium (below) looks outstanding, as much as it pains me to say it.

Another interesting example is the new stadium that the Colts are building in Indy. Lucas Oil Stadium is also designed to be optimally shaped to host the NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four which takes place there every 4-5 years.

While these new stadiums might not approach the sort of creativity and genius of Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany…

.. or the Olympic Stadium being built in Beijing

… But they’re showing signs of making these stadiums a legacy to teams and cities, rather than just a big cash register. Anyone footblal owner can increase revenue by building a new stadium, but can they they leave that legacy and pride behind as well?

It’s not that hard, baseball owners have been doing that (or trying to) ever since Camden Yards was built.