COMMENTS FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY - MIKE IN DA - DECEMBER 17, 2010

COMMENTS FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY

Written by: Mike in DA
Date posted: 12/17/2010

SPORTS DEATHS: JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2010


JANUARY:

12 - Art Rust, Jr., 82, American sports commentator, Parkinson's disease. 

17 - Gaines Adams, 26, American football player (Chicago Bears, Tampa Bay Buccaneers), cardiac arrest.

21- Bobby Bragan, 92, American baseball player and manager, heart attack. 

29 - Tom Brookshier, 78, American football player (Philadelphia Eagles), coach and sportscaster (CBS Sports, WCAU), cancer.

FEBRUARY:

3 - Dick McGuire, 84, American basketball player, New York Knicks senior consultant, Basketball Hall of Famer, natural causes.

10 - Carl Braun, 82, American basketball player (New York Knicks), natural causes.

10 -  Fred Schaus, 84, American basketball player and coach (Los Angeles Lakers). 

13 Red Rocha, 86, American basketball player and coach (Hawaii Rainbow Warriors).

15 Dana Kirk, 74, American basketball coach (Memphis Tigers), heart attack. 

16 - Jim Bibby, 65, American baseball player (Pittsburgh Pirates), bone cancer. 

23 - Mosi Tatupu, 54, American football player (New England Patriots).

VIDEO: A SKANKY USC GRANDMA!

http://www.sportspickle.com/video/4343/usc-grandmas-are-kind-of-skanky

LEBRON JAMES TO JOIN HMW AS MEDIA CRITIC???



LeBron James can’t only handle criticism directed toward him, but he’s also unable to handle criticism directed toward other super-star athletes.

Trent Dilfer

Last Wednesday (12/8), James was very upset with ESPN NFL analyst Trent Dilfer, who was simply doing his job, by criticizing Peyton Manning, who has not been doing his job in recent weeks. James was so upset by the comments, he tweeted his thoughts. Actually, he needed two tweets to express to complete his thoughts on 12/8, as follows:

There’s a reason why he anointed himself “King James”. He has major self-esteem issues and needs his ego stroked. However, LeBron should stop worrying about what former mediocre NFL quarterbacks are saying on ESPN. The last thing we need is another bad TV media critic.


If LeBron wants to be a TV critic, he should have gone to college and studied journalism. Some may argue we should have more respect for LeBron for speaking his mind. Others will say LeBron should mind his own business. I say that LeBron should stop defending Peyton Manning, and work harder on defending the prediction that the Miami Heat would lose only five games this year and win seven titles or whatever those predictions were.


Of all the people on ESPN's football coverage to bash, LeBron picked Trent Dilfer? I don’t know Trent Dilfer from Trent Green, but I do know he's easily one of the least offensive people involved with the network's NFL coverage. Please remember that Chris Berman, Cris Carter, Tedy Bruschi, Matt Millen, Tom Jackson and Cris Carter work there. Singling out Dilfer is like saying the Heat's November struggles were because of Udonis Haslem.

Dilfer's comments on Manning weren't that off-base. Peyton is playing bad football lately. Much of that has to do with injuries and a bad defense, but if Peyton gets the credit when the Colts win, he deserves the blame when the team loses. And unlike LeBron, I'm sure Peyton is aware enough to realize when he's playing poorly.


LeBron is right about one thing: Dilfer couldn't dream of doing what Peyton has done of late. Manning threw eleven interceptions in three consecutive losses. Dilfer never had such a bad stretch during his 13-year career.

The bottom line is: Trent Dilfer - one ring; Peyton Manning - one ring; and LeBron James - zero rings.





AN EMBARRASSING WEEK FOR THE JETS!

The NY Jets lost this past Sunday to the Miami Dolphins, 10-6. That is the fourth time this year that the Jets have been held to single digits in a game and one of those “single-digit games” was a shutout. The winning QB, Chad Henne, did not put forth an effort that will be recorded in Canton for eternity. The Jets lost a game where the opposing QB threw for a total of 55 yards and posted a QB rating of 58.3, a number that is considered anemic.

Jets coach, Rex Ryan, tried to use the same old coachspeak to say that this was a “team loss” and something that the coaches had to work hard on to fix and all that crap. The fact is that the Jets’ defense played excellently on Sunday, as opposed to their total no-show game two weeks ago against the Patriots. The Dolphins won despite getting a total of six first downs in the game and a total offensive output of 131 yards. When that level of defensive effort cannot win a game, the problems lie elsewhere.

Adding insult to injury, the Jets also need now to deal with the huge embarrassment of their strength and conditioning coach, Sal Alosi, who purposely tripped a Dolphins’ player going to cover a punt in the game. It is on tape; there is no denying it. Precedents for what to do here are sparse indeed. The closest thing I can think of was in the 1954 Cotton Bowl when Rice halfback, Dicky Moegle, was on his way to a 95-yard TD run when FB Tommy Lewis came off the Alabama bench onto the field and threw a block and knocked Moegle down (please see below). The referee awarded Moegle and Rice a TD on the play.

1954 Cotton Bowl - tackled by the twelfth man

There are so many differences between the Cotton Bowl situation and what happened in Sunday's game that there is not an easy link between the two. The Jets and the NFL have to figure out how to deal with this because it was an intolerable act.

BRAD LIDGE GOTTA BE SMILING!

Back in Philly

Well, I never saw that coming - Cliff Lee turning down Yankee money and turning down the Texas Rangers’ no state income tax situation to sign with the Phillies. When the Phillies traded Lee to the Seattle Mariners a year ago, there were stories that whatever the Phillies had offered in terms of a contract extension was insufficient and that he wanted to test free agency. So Philly went out and got Roy Halladay and then added Roy Oswalt to their staff, and now Cliff Lee is back in the fold.




A smiling Lidge

 You have to imagine that Philly closer, Brad Lidge, is very happy and smiling this week. The number of potential save opportunities that will come his way looks to be on the increase.










PAT GILLICK: A HALL OF FAMER, BUT OUR SPORTS TALKERS PROBABLY COULDN'T PICK HIM OUT OF A LINEUP!

Hall of Famer Gillick

Speaking of the Phillies, Ruben Amaro Jr. is the Phillies’ GM who got the Cliff Lee deal done and he is a disciple of Pat Gillick who was just elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Gillick’s strength was to build teams piece by piece and Amaro seems to have learned that lesson. Since our local sports talk shows once again failed to do their homework and pass on information to its listeners, I will enlighten you with Pat Gillick’s résumé:

In Toronto, he constructed teams that won the AL East in 1985, 1989, 1991,’92 and ‘93. They also won the World Series in 1992 and 1993. Since he left Toronto, the team has found itself in the bottom portion of the AL East.


In Baltimore, his teams made the playoffs in two of the three years he was there (1996 and 1997.) Since he left, the Orioles have been condemned to the bottom portion of the AL East, as they haven't had a winning season since then.

In Seattle, his teams got to the playoffs in 2000 and 2001 and that 2001 Mariners’ team won 116 games. Since he left, the Mariners have not been in the playoffs and have generally been in the bottom portion of the AL West.

In Philly, he constructed the Phillies’ 2008 World Series Champions and left the cupboard stocked well enough to get them to the World Series again in 2009 and to the playoffs in 2010.




Amaro



Ruben Amaro Jr.’s challenge will be to maintain the contender status that Gillick constructed in Philly. So far, he's done a good job.







GIVE THE WOMEN THEIR OWN CHANNEL!


From an online report: “Women are already a quarter of ESPN's audience, but the company is looking for ways to gradually grow its overall female fan base, possibly into an entire television channel.”

That's a great idea. Give the women their own television channel, so the women’s basketball scores can be removed from regular ESPN and ESPN2, and they can run the girlie scores all day and all night on an ESPN for mismatches that nobody goes to or cares about, but they keep score of anyway.

Give the women a channel where they can talk about Geno Auriemma and Pat Summit 25 hours a day, eight days a week. They deserve it. Let them have it. Do it! Do it! ESPN is launching a website called ESPNW, but a new TV station would be better. Some women are worried that ESPN will use the website as an excuse not to cover women's sports on its main broadcast channels. Hey, isn't that the point?!


FLEX THIS: MUSICAL CHAIRS NFL STYLE

The NFL's flex scheduling allows the league to tinker with Sunday matchups during Weeks 11-17 to bring fans the most intriguing or competitive games during the primetime slots. Week #16 will be the first week it actually utilizes the flex.


The Week #16 Minnesota Vikings-Philadelphia Eagles game on Sunday, December 26 will be played at 8:20 PM ET on NBC and the San Diego Chargers-Cincinnati Bengals game that day will move to 4:05 PM ET on CBS, the NFL announced this week. In addition, the Seattle Seahawks-Tampa Bay Buccaneers game will move from 1:00 PM ET to 4:15 PM ET on FOX to fill in for the Vikings-Eagles game afternoon slot.

NFL knows its ratings makers and Michael Vick has been that guy this season (ratings for the Eagles/Cowboys game this past Sunday night were the highest for SNF this season). The Eagles are currently battling for the NFC East title and the Vikings still have an outside shot of making the playoffs, as well. Overall, this is a good decision by the NFL, although some dog lovers might complain about seeing the Eagles for a third time in the final six weeks of Sunday Night Football.


ODDS AND ENDS:

1. After the Washington Nationals set the market for free agent outfielders by signing Jayson Werth to a 7-year deal worth $126M, the Boston Red Sox signed Carl Crawford for seven years and $142M. If Werth is worth $18M per year, then Crawford is probably worth $20M per year, although the Red Sox could have used a right-handed hitter more than another left-handed hitter at the moment, which might indicate that these teams should have signed each other’s player. Actually neither of these guys is worth that kind of money. If these guys are worth that kind of money, what the hell will Albert Pujols get after 2011 as a free agent. He will be the same age at the end of next season that Werth is this year. How about a 7-year deal worth $180M?

2. The Big 10 recently named its new divisions for next year the alliterative Legends Division and Leaders Division. WTF!!! I preferred the Cheech and Chong Divisions or the Amos and Andy Divisions.

3. I recently read that Roger Clemens’ trial for perjury for lying to the Congress about performance enhancing drug usage was postponed yet again. Clemens could spend 25 years in jail if it can be shown beyond a reasonable doubt that he told the Congresspersons a lie. Ironically, Congresspersons often spend 25 years in office despite clear evidence that they continuously lie to the people that they supposedly represent in Congress.

4. FYI - "Marlin" is the plural of "Marlin", as in "Lesbian Craig caught three (or several) marlin". The question is then, "Why do they call the baseball team the "Marlins"? It turns out that "Marlins" is used unless a specific number is denoted.


MIKE IN DA



HMW


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