So it's the Packers and the Steelers, eh?
Two of the most storied franchises in NFL history competing against each other in the biggest game of the season, you don't say?
The Packers, winners of the first two Super Bowls and three overall, against the Steelers, looking to break their own record of Super Bowls won, going for their seventh.
Well wake me up on February 7th.
I cannot stand a team or individual dominance over a sport. The New York Yankees, Lance Armstrong, Jimmie Johnson...you don't impress me, you bore me! It takes the fun out of cheering all season long, just to get to the end and realize, "Wow, these teams are here again...I feel like an idiot for rooting for ANYBODY else."
Ok, so Packers fans, I realize that you haven't been to the big show since '96, but you've been at least a playoff team 90% of the time since then.
Steelers fans, shut the hell up. I know most of you are asking yourselves, "what the hell is he talking about, we have the chance to win our third championship in the last seven years!"
Exactly. You're very proud, good for you. The rest of us are SICK of you. Take solace in knowing that the only team we are more sick of than you are the New England Patriots and they've choked harder than a rookie porn star these last three years.
We thought we finally caught a break when Big Ben struck again this off season. There was no way you guys were gonna stay afloat with all this drama from the center of your franchise...AGAIN!
But yet again, you weathered the storm, won the games you had to win, and made me physically ill in the process.
Where is all this parity that the NFL hypes up year after year? I thought because of the salary cap limit, the NFL draft, and free agency we were supposed to believe that ANY given Sunday that ANY team can win?
Who cares if Green Bay or Pittsburgh wins another title besides the die hard Packers and Steelers fans?
Seriously. Honest question. Do you care?
If so, why? Where's the draw? What are the headlines this year?
Can Aaron Rodgers step out of Brett Favre's shadow? I thought he already did that by keeping his head held high and letting Favre self-implode over the last four years.
Can Big Ben step out of his own self-inflicted image gunshot wounds? Hasn't he already done that by staying out of trouble situations this year and guiding his team to the Super Bowl?
Is that it?
It's certainly not because the Black Eyed Peas are doing the half-time show this year because they're hackneyed garbage...
I guess it's the commercials then. Those of us outside of Green Bay and Pittsburgh get to care about the marketing this year.
Happy Super Sunday, kids.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Friday, January 14, 2011
Flipper Turns Flopper
A rule of thumb that is generally used throughout journalism is to keep an unbiased opinion and stay away from things that would be considered a conflict of interest.
This is why you will not find very many things on this blog dealing with the Miami Dolphins or the Tampa Bay Rays.
Those are my favorite two teams in sports and I can get a little...passionate...when writing, speaking, or shouting about the two of them.
However, the actions of the Dolphins front office staff over these last few weeks cannot go ignored, not even by this biased, crappy piece of publication.
And, Hell, if Bill Simmons can get away with writing about all things Boston all the time, I should be allowed a freebie every now and again.
So, quick recap, Miami ends what should have been a promising season with a 7-9 record, compounded worse by the fact that they only won one game at home all year long.
Naturally, rumblings starting coming about that head coach Tony Sparano would probably be losing his job.
Enter into the mix things like retired coach Bill Cowher stating to the media that he would be interested in coaching the Dolphins and Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh announcing that he was ready to go to the NFL and now we have ourselves a few options to the heir apparent in Miami.
So, Stephen Ross, the owner, flies out to California to meet with Harbaugh and to reportedly make him an offer that would make him the highest paid coach in the NFL.
Now, here's where if you were my editor you would point out to say that I forgot a huge chunk of information here. The only problem is, I didn't
Ross never fired Sparano.
He went to find Sparano's replacement, while Sparano was STILL on the job. This is the kind of shady, under-handed stuff you could get away with in the 60's and 70's when the media was severely limited but in this day and age, you get your bullshit called on you.
What a tasteless, gutless act by Ross. It reminded me of those jerks in high school who would be dating a girl and then see a prettier one and go up to her and say, "Hey, when I dump her, you wanna go out?"
Poor Sparano didn't do anything but sit there with the mud on his face, waiting day and day for somebody to decide his future for him.
And in the end? Harbaugh went to the 49ers and Sparano was resigned for another year extension.
Are you kidding me? How are we supposed to believe that he's going to go ahead and give himself 100% to a team that clearly has no interest in reciprocating?
The whole situation is a nightmare. Ross was never man enough to bite the bullet and do what he wanted to do and now we're stuck in this weird "we're married but we sleep in separate beds" scenario.
Look, Sparano is a good coach. It wasn't his fault that Chad Henne had some sort of embolism and regressed about fourteen years in his progress as a quarterback. Plus, the offensive coordinator last year was ancient and out of touch with today's NFL and didn't know how to utilize the weapons he had. He's already gone and Henne most certainly won't be the starter next year.
But would you blame Sparano for mailing it in next year as some big eff you to the ownership?
I sure wouldn't.
Ross would certainly have it coming to him.
It just sucks that, in like most marriages on the brink of divorce, the ones who suffer the most are the children.
This is why you will not find very many things on this blog dealing with the Miami Dolphins or the Tampa Bay Rays.
Those are my favorite two teams in sports and I can get a little...passionate...when writing, speaking, or shouting about the two of them.
However, the actions of the Dolphins front office staff over these last few weeks cannot go ignored, not even by this biased, crappy piece of publication.
And, Hell, if Bill Simmons can get away with writing about all things Boston all the time, I should be allowed a freebie every now and again.
So, quick recap, Miami ends what should have been a promising season with a 7-9 record, compounded worse by the fact that they only won one game at home all year long.
Naturally, rumblings starting coming about that head coach Tony Sparano would probably be losing his job.
Enter into the mix things like retired coach Bill Cowher stating to the media that he would be interested in coaching the Dolphins and Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh announcing that he was ready to go to the NFL and now we have ourselves a few options to the heir apparent in Miami.
So, Stephen Ross, the owner, flies out to California to meet with Harbaugh and to reportedly make him an offer that would make him the highest paid coach in the NFL.
Now, here's where if you were my editor you would point out to say that I forgot a huge chunk of information here. The only problem is, I didn't
Ross never fired Sparano.
He went to find Sparano's replacement, while Sparano was STILL on the job. This is the kind of shady, under-handed stuff you could get away with in the 60's and 70's when the media was severely limited but in this day and age, you get your bullshit called on you.
What a tasteless, gutless act by Ross. It reminded me of those jerks in high school who would be dating a girl and then see a prettier one and go up to her and say, "Hey, when I dump her, you wanna go out?"
Poor Sparano didn't do anything but sit there with the mud on his face, waiting day and day for somebody to decide his future for him.
And in the end? Harbaugh went to the 49ers and Sparano was resigned for another year extension.
Are you kidding me? How are we supposed to believe that he's going to go ahead and give himself 100% to a team that clearly has no interest in reciprocating?
The whole situation is a nightmare. Ross was never man enough to bite the bullet and do what he wanted to do and now we're stuck in this weird "we're married but we sleep in separate beds" scenario.
Look, Sparano is a good coach. It wasn't his fault that Chad Henne had some sort of embolism and regressed about fourteen years in his progress as a quarterback. Plus, the offensive coordinator last year was ancient and out of touch with today's NFL and didn't know how to utilize the weapons he had. He's already gone and Henne most certainly won't be the starter next year.
But would you blame Sparano for mailing it in next year as some big eff you to the ownership?
I sure wouldn't.
Ross would certainly have it coming to him.
It just sucks that, in like most marriages on the brink of divorce, the ones who suffer the most are the children.
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