NFC South Offensive Lines: Looking For A Few Good Linemen

This could be the weakest division of linemen in the conference. With all four teams ranking in the second half of the conference, three in the lower third, there is much work to be done. But with strong offensive coaching from Jon Gruden in Tampa Bay and Sean Payton in New Orleans there is hope these units can produce. Carolina Panthers [read more...]

NFC North Offensive Lines: Vikings Stake Claim To Top Spot

The Minnesota Vikings may have made a big splash in the offseason by acquiring defensive lineman Jared Allen from Kansas City, but the team's biggest asset is on the offensive side of the ball. The Vikings are not only the top-rated offensive line in their conference and division, but they might very well be the best in the National Football [read more...]

ESPN-ing Blackness

(This is written in reaction to a general feeling of what I consider to be a "defeatist malaise" among people who would want to see truly diverse voices in mainstream media (MSM)…) Jemele Hill recently wrote a commentary about the NFL and it's new emphasis on stopping "gang sign" among its players. Beyond its initial two sentences, the piece wavers between [read more...]

Notes: Gang Signin’ in the NFL; Camby was a Chess Piece; More Goods on Roger the Rapin’ Roider; Jennings Signs with Italian Team

Crip signin'… right? The NFL is concerned about its image - again. The league has hired "experts" to review and identify "hand signals" thrown up by NFL players during games: "There have been some suspected things we've seen," said Milt Ahlerich, the league's vice president of security. "When we see it, we quietly jump on it immediately, directly with the team and [read more...]

2008 Fantasy Football Bloggers Mock Draft Update Round 1

If you are anything like me, you are starving for any football discussion that doesn't include Brett Favre (please make it stop!). So, I figured I would give you an update on a little mock draft that some very football savvy bloggers and I have been participating in over the last week or so. So far, not many surprises but round [read more...]

NFC West Offensive Lines: Staying Healthy Key To Success

This division lacks a little up front, and the effort trickles down from there. Subpar efforts and lack of healthy players on the line and in the backfield have created an uphill battle for these West Coast teams. That said, Seattle and St. Louis have been the most successful teams from this division, and that success is tied to the [read more...]

Favre’s Possible Return a Blessing - For the Bears

Four months ago, Brett Favre claimed he was done with football. Done with two-a-day practices, done with the Lambeau Leap, done with throwing bullet screen passes and beautiful deep balls. After 15 years, one Super Bowl title and countless NFL records, Favre left the Green Bay Packers for a whole lot of nothing on his land in Mississippi. Now that has [read more...]

Summerfest Sports Orgy Blitzkrieg Quiz

I'm feeling a little more A.D.D. than usual today. And being the super-spaz child that I am inside, I'm looking for answers to a thousand (and one) questions. Discuss amongst yourselves... please help me answer my most pressing doubts, concerns, and fears. Take your time... this is one of [read more...]

Chris Benoit: One Year Later - Part 2

read part one here read part three here Concussions Chris Nowinski is a former professional wrestler himself. His WWE career was cut short in June 2003 after a series of concussions, and Nowinski channeled his energy toward concussion research. In 2006, he wrote a book about the NFL's concussion problem, entitled Head Games: Football's Concussion Crisis. Over the next couple years, Nowinski [read more...]

The ‘Real’ West Coast Offense: A geographical nomenclature rather than a one-man design

To deny the late Bill Walsh the title of creator of the West Coast offense is like refusing to acknowledge the legendary Vince Lombardi as a god in Green Bay. Uncomfortable for me to write as it is for you to read, the claim is nonetheless true. The fact of the matter is that while Walsh was, indeed, [read more...]

AFC South Offensive Lines: Not All O-lines Are Created Equal

The Jacksonville offensive line is mean, and sets the tone for its offensive. In Indianapolis, the Peyton Manning-led Colts thrive on the quick thinking of their quarterback. Either way, both offensive lines produce great results with completely different formulas. Moral to the story. It might not matter how you win as long as you find a way to win. Expect [read more...]

Alex Smith Questions

As the first overall pick in 2005, 49ers quarterback Alex Smith already had a lot of pressure on his shoulders. He signed the big contract with the team that is tied for the most Super Bowl wins, and he now has to try to satisfy the fans that saw their beloved Niners quarterbacked by two of the greatest QBs [read more...]

Soriano using recycled plastic bags to catch fly balls

OK, Lima Bean posse, this is where I openly rant about anything and everything affecting our general mental health diet. We'll call it Organic Sports Therapy... Grocery bagger guy: I don't need a bag for a banana dude! And I won't feed your bagging addiction. Stop being such bagwhores. Baggers everywhere, grocery and retail: Please stop bagging my [read more...]

Quarterback Controversies

courtesy of Unlocked Sports So much has been made of these situations in the past ten years that it's hard to know where to start breaking down a quarterback controversy. Last season a couple of notables were Grossman vs. Griese in Chicago, Losman vs. Edwards in Buffalo, Pennington vs. Clemens for the Jets, Broyle vs. Huard in K.C., Schaub vs. Rosenfels [read more...]

Samir Patel, Your Word Is… Downhill

Samir Patel, by many standards, you were a prodigy, making your first trip to the Scripps National Spelling Bee at 9 years old. But now -- after being labeled "the Dan Marino of the spelling bee world" -- the bright lights and cheering crowds are no more. And now it's time to start thinking about how best to screw [read more...]

Leave Brett Favre’s Locker Alone

The Green Bay Packers have kept Brett Favre's locker intact. No really, the Packer organization is keeping the recently-retired QB's locker in place for posterity. See, this is because Brett Favre is the greatest quarterback in the history of the NFL. He is the league's all-time leader in virtually every significant passing category - touchdowns (442), completions (5,377), attempts (8,758) and [read more...]

Can Home Field Advantage Boost NFL Fantasy Stats?

When you look at the advantages of playing in front of the home crowd, the numbers clearly support it makes a difference. In 2007, home teams won 38 more times than they lost. And 21 of the 32 teams were .500 or better at home. In a previous post, it was suggested that formula translates to success in fantasy leagues [read more...]

The Top 10 Non-Corporation-Affiliated NFL Stadiums

Amazing how the most ordinary of events can spark ideas. Just the other day, I was speaking to a good friend on the phone who had what I am sure has become an all too familiar experience for many men. No, not that. He told me he was attending a trivia night at an area church and looking to make [read more...]

Why Chicks Should Be Banned From All-Star Voting

Perhaps I've been drinking too much of the Colin Cowherd Kool-aid, but I've realized female sports fans are messing with the natural order of things -- and that is turning me into a chauvinistic, repressive fool. As I recall, Colin has spoken about the upsides -- a requirement even -- of having a relationship with a girl who doesn't love sports. [read more...]

Defending the Sports Fan

I have recently been thrust into the unenviable position of having an in-law move in with my wife and me. A brief respite from the despair is the fact that it is the father-in-law, not the dreaded monster-in-law. However, from the sports-viewing perspective, the household has taken a hit. While my wife was always tolerable of me watching various things [read more...]

Jesus: The Saints sucked last year

What Would Jesus Blog? Well, I obviously cannot answer that without divine intervention. But a source close to Jesus -- speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of the wrath of God and damnation to hell's fire -- tells me that The Chosen One is unhappy with plenty of things shaking out in the world, including the perennial letdowns [read more...]

Just For Money

I'm not really going to say too much here since this is the most ridiculous commercial I've seen in quite a while. I'm not saying it's not funny -- because it is super comical -- but seeing Emmitt Smith in a rest home on YouTube coloring his facial hair is about as believable as a presidential candidate in late [read more...]

How do you spell d-y-n-a-s-t-y?

When the Scripps National Spelling Bee comes to ESPN/ABC at the end of the month, I expect to feel numb -- almost stung. It's been over 22 years since I heard that cacophonous bell during the St. Theresa school spelling bee. I felt paralyzed. I ruined my shot at the three-peat, which would have culminated with four [read more...]

Pacman Jones and “Limited Hangout”

Adam "Pacman" Jones says he can't say he's never, ever going to strip clubs but he says he is staying away from the poled palaces for the next "three or four years." Jones is a fantastic athlete with that rare combination - for a human being - of absolute fearlessness plus the ability to see the field and get his body [read more...]

A Priviliged Career

It was fitting that on a Monday night, the day after Brett Favre's father Irv died of a heart attack at age 58, Favre threw for 399 yards and four touchdowns. It might have been the best game of his football career.It was equally fitting that Brett Favre's final pass as an NFL quarterback was an interception. The two examples personify [read more...]

The Black Quarterback: Running from the Devil - part 3

This is 2007. This season we have witnessed the fall of the classic, from the pocket black quarterback, Leftwich, in favor of his "more mobile" backup, David Garrard. Leftwich was said by his head coach Jack Del Rio, to have "regressed" as a quarterback. It is interesting - and no accident - that Leftwich, viewed as heroic throughout his college [read more...]

The Black Quarterback: Running from the Devil - part 2

Randall Cunningham's presence in the NFL did not influence offensive coordinators to want to suddenly begin actively seeking out dual-threat quarterbacks. In fact, it probably did just the opposite; if there were signal-callers in college that displayed this ability they were more than likely actively shunned. The NFL, despite being the pinnacle of the game, is the place where the fewest [read more...]

The Black Quarterback: Running from the Devil

This is an article that has been on my mind for some time. The subject matter originally was Vince Young and race. You know, black quarterback who, in college is a star - make that super nova. But everyone can see that his mechanics are not those of the "prototypical" QB. In the pros he has a great year and [read more...]

NFL in Brief

It's hard to think of a Wild Card weekend in recent years that passed with such predictability. At times, it seemed that the most unexpected twists and turns could be found on MSNBC, where the Republican and Democratic primaries have turned into the political equivalent of a jump-ball. Tuesday's New Hampshire primary may just turn out to be more exciting [read more...]

Rice vs. Moss: Perceiving “Yesterday’s” Athletes and Today’s

It was only a matter of time before Randy Moss' words caught up with him. After breaking Jerry Rice's record for touchdown receptions in a season with 23 (Rice caught 22 in a strike-shortened 12-game season) Moss told the press that the record meant something only because, "shuttin' you guys [the NFL press] up made it special."Jerry Rice, on Sirius [read more...]

My Cleveland Browns Helmet Got a Makover

Here is a post that has nothing to do with fantasy football. It is more of a trip down memory lane. A shining example of how ingrained the NFL is in my life history. In the comments section of yesterdays post “Don’t Hurt Your Fantasy Football Team by Being a Die hard Fan,” it was brought to my attention that fellow [read more...]

10 Things We Learned About the NFL This Season

Just like that, another NFL season has come and gone. Sorry, the Pro Bowl doesn't count since yours truly is currently an alternate at safety in the NFC right now. The excruciating dead period between the end of football and the beginning of baseball is upon us, and since I'll never make it to April writing nothing but Winter Olympics and [read more...]

Open Letter to Seattle: Responding to the NFL Referee Issue

Milton Friedman, who is essentially the father of modern economics, is - naturally - a proponent of free markets. And in this modern age of government reliance, he often finds himself straddling a line between supporting a pure free market approach, or ceding some to the populace, and acknowledging that an ounce of governmental oversight might be helpful. So what does [read more...]

Super Bowl Refs Steal Seahawks Show

For those who wish to believe the outcry regarding the complete trashing the referees handed Seattle yesterday is overdone - already crying foul are Michael Wilbon, Skip Bayless, Jason Whitlock, Michael Smith, and many others (check out Slate.com) - consider the immensity of the response had this happened to Pittsburgh. Well, you don't have to. We already saw it. And that's [read more...]

Human Element in Athletes Hard to Ignore

If regular access to professional athletes is one of the supposed "thrilling" aspects of being paid to write about sports, perhaps the most certain thing a scribe could relay to any fan when the barstool conversations take place is this: They are a lot like you and me. Bode Miller drinks beer. Ozzie Guillen makes statements he immediately regrets,and my tape [read more...]

Blips, Blurbs & Blasts

OK, Tom Brady, let's review. Your team has won three of the last four Super Bowls, and you've been the MVP in two of those games. Most football experts believe that the Patriots are the only team with any chance of knocking the Colts out of the postseason. You are currently dating Bridget Moynahan, one of the most drop-dead gorgeous [read more...]

McNabb’s Plight Illuminates NAACP Ignorance

You could say sports are the most oft-used allegory in the lay-philosopher's explanation of life's meaning. We hear the sporting analogies too often. "Timmy, doing homework now is hard, but stay in the game, tough it out, and someday you'll be a winner." This is inevitably followed by, "Now if you need more help with your paper, ask your mother. I need [read more...]

And Down the Stretch They Come

With three-quarters of the 2006 NFL season already in the books, 17 of 32 teams are realistically alive for 12 playoff berths. The division winners are pretty much set in the AFC, yet three of the four divisions are still unsettled over in the NFC. The Colts have clearly established themselves as the team to beat as they march toward [read more...]

Why Should ESPN Dump Irvin? He’s the Man They Hired

As we all know, sometimes where there's smoke, there's fire. Or in Michael Irvin's case, crack. Or pot. Or merely paraphernalia. Wait, make that somebody else's crack. Or pot. Or paraphernalia. Whatever. This is the third time Irvin has had a run-in regarding this stuff. He was nailed for coke possession in 1996. Got hit again on a drug charges in 2000 that were [read more...]

Here, There & Everywhere

Best of the Worst, So What? The Chicago Bears are 5-3, should be 6-3 after their battle with the league's best JV team, San Francisco, this weekend, and at this point are the clear favorites to win the NFC North. So what, you say. There are 20 teams that could win this division. To which I ask, since when is it so objectionable [read more...]

Gone Yard: Terrell Owens, Savior of Sport

Terrell Owens, savior of sport. Five words that, according to Google, have never before in the history of the Internet been uttered together. And yet…it's possible. Maybe only in a "this year, the Cubbies'll take it all!" kind of way, but possible nonetheless. How? Before we get there, let's take a step back. Owens has been a leading vote-getter on the All-Jackass Team [read more...]

Terrell Owens Fails “Opportunity Test”

Nobody knows better than Terrell Owens that a maxim exists in the NFL that says great receivers do not create great quarterbacks. There simply isn't the evidence to supply the grounds for such a theory. Even when you take the greatest receivers in the history of the NFL, starting of course with Jerry Rice, the evidence always points to the fact [read more...]

Let the Debate Begin: Overrated vs. Underrated

We hear it all the time. Virginia Tech is so overrated this year. The Bills defense is very underrated this season. No matter what the public conception is on a certain team or player or number, there is guaranteed to be a horde of folks who think that player, team or what-have-you is better or worse than the rest of [read more...]

Willie Parker Underscores NCAA Survival Issue

Let's hop in our Delorean's, go back three years, and ask this question: Who will have the better pro career, Willie Parker or Cedric Benson? This is a no-brainer, right? Benson is busy running all over the Big 12, behind (ahem) the best offensive line in college football, and pondering an early leap to the NFL. Willie Parker is deep on the [read more...]

What We Learned From Week 1 in the NFL

There are few things more meaningless than preseason games in the National Football League, aside from Kanye West's political beliefs and Richard Hatch's tax return. The results actually count in the standings after Week 1, so this is the first true test to see which coaches have made the right adjustments, which free agent signings will pay off, and which [read more...]

Owens Flunks NFL Public Relations 101

It'll always be easy to find Terrell Owens. His is a path littered with massive smoke signals from all the burnt bridges. And it's actually getting close to the phrase one ESPN executive used to describe Keith Olbermann's exit from the network back in the late '90's. "He didn't just burn bridges, he napalmed them." Yesterday, Detroit Lions quarterback Jeff Garcia responded to [read more...]

Philly Fans: I Told You So

I'm not the kind of person to say, "I told you so." Wait a second. Of course I am. Nobody enjoys saying that more than I do. Hey Philadelphia, about this whole Terrell Owens thing, I told you so. "No one can question what Owens brings to the table every Sunday. He is brutally strong, roadrunner fast, and his ability to [read more...]

Hart Surgery: The Law of Diminishing Returns

How long ago was it when Boston fans were supposed to be some of the longest suffering on the planet? Seems like forever. Whatever bad karma they were suffering from the Babe is long gone. With their most recent Super Bowl win, Boston has now joined the city of Pittsburgh as the only two cities in the past 25 years [read more...]

NFL Conservatives Really Quite Liberal

Conservative has become the new liberal. In football at least. Jeff Davis is a Chicago institution as a long time sports anchor. He's also recently released his first book with Papa Bear, The Life and Legacy of George Halas. (See a full review and interview in the February print CSR) He is an admitted old timer, one who can appreciate the [read more...]

Colts Physicality Again Absent

There are limitations to finesse. For Indianapolis, their passing attack again has come off like the flight of a butterfly within a blender. For Peyton Manning, another MVP season would be better suited in describing his teams offensive and defensive credo: as in, Most Vulnerable Philosophy. So while the Colts opted not to run out the clock on the last minute [read more...]

Terrell Owens: Wanting His Cake and Eating It Too

Last week, it appeared that all was well with wide receiver Terrell Owens. Despite a bone-headed move by his agent in failing to file the paperwork with the NFL that would have voided the remaining three years on his contract with the San Francisco 49ers, the 'Niners shipped Owens to the Baltimore Ravens in return for a second round draft [read more...]

Terrell Owens: Too Busy Loud Mouth

When he hasn't been blasting his teammates, especially quarterback Jeff Garcia, or pulling Sharpie pens out of his socks to sign footballs, Terrell Owens has been not-too-patiently waiting for this off-season, when the superstar wide receiver could cancel the remaining years on his contract with the San Francisco 49ers and become a free agent. Owens is due to make $17.7 million [read more...]

Helping Friends or Failing to Curb the Posse?

For the second time in five years, a Baltimore Ravens superstar is in trouble with the law, both times in Atlanta. Raven running back Jamal Lewis is now facing federal charges that he tried to help a childhood friend buy cocaine in the summer of 2000.Lewis, who grew up in the Atlanta area, pleaded not guilty to the charges, which [read more...]

Not For Long Finally Has a New Meaning

Power and control. A tough catch. Still, next to Hummer and Armani, most noted materialists still prefer the first pair.Why would the NFL or NCAA be any different? They've grasped those two for years. Thanks to Maurice Clarett, that fact has become far more evident. The NFL isn't happy, and neither is the NCAA. The two have colluded on one of [read more...]

CSR View: One Long Week

There were no doubt millions of people who, at around 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 25, wondered what to do. Instead of seeing Cats and Pats in the world's most anticipated sporting event, the nation, and the world, was forced to wait a whole extra week for the Super Bowl. The two-week delay between the conference title games and Super [read more...]

Hart Surgery: Fantasy World

As the weather turns colder and college football begins to wind down, our thoughts can only turn to one thing: the playoff chase. Games get bigger, the stakes get higher, and the stars of the game separate themselves and assert their dominance. That’s right; it’s Week Twelve of the fantasy football season. What, you thought I meant real football? Please. I [read more...]

Hart Surgery: A Rare McNair

The NFL is at mid-season, and unfortunately the biggest story so far has been the treatment of Donovan McNabb by the media. So much has been said and written on this subject, and far be it from me to bore you with another rehash of racial politics in professional sports. Even if I wanted to, I have nothing intelligent to add to the discussion. What [read more...]

Hart Surgery: The State of Sports Address

My fellow Americans, I come before you today to discuss the current state of Sports. We find ourselves at a crossroads, America. The amount of money we are spending each year on the Sports Industrial Complex is growing and growing at an alarming rate. Salaries are up. Product is down. Many problems need addressing. I take this time tonight to [read more...]

Hart Surgery: Let the Party Begin!

This Sunday will commence one of the great rituals of American society. Yup, Super Bowl XXXVII is coming to a TV screen near you, and it's got something for everyone. Football for the sports fans, halftime show for the ladies, and commercials for, well, whoever it is who likes the commercials (more on that later). Everyone will be watching this [read more...]

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