Week-in-Review: McNabb Benched, Cam Newton’s Blunder, Favre Selling Streak, Vick Talking Dogs, more
It’s Friday, so it’s time for my Week-in-Review. With the next two Fridays being Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, I’ll likely move the review to Thursday . . . I knew you were curious. Without further delay:
• I usually work backwards in this weekly post – well, sort of – but it came out today that Donovan McNabb has not only been benched for Sunday behind Rex Grossman, he will then be the emergency quarterback behind John Beck for the rest of the season. As McNabb’s agent and national media cronies scramble to say how “disrespectful” the benching is, which makes absolutely zero sense, we sit back in Philadelphia and laugh. We told ya. And, by the way, what is disrespectful about it? This is the NFL. If you can’t get it done, and McNabb has really never gotten it done, you sit.
• I can’t believe I haven’t heard more about the speech Cam Newton gave after winning the Heisman Trophy on Saturday night. His father wasn’t there due to allegations that he attempted to have college recruiters pay money to get Cam to go to their school – you know, above and beyond the free tuition that everyone arguing on behalf of the athletes legally getting paid by the schools conveniently forgets. Yet, Cam Newton still said, “My parents do a lot of things behind the scenes.” I hate to quote Homer Simpson, but it seems appropriate. “Doh!”
• Tweet of the Week? I saw this on Saturday from ProFootballTalk, “Official reason for move of Giants-Vikings game to Monday night? ‘Act of Favre.’”
• Brett Favre’s streak of consecutive starts came to an end at 297 last weekend despite the game being delayed until Monday due to weather and stadium problems. Obviously, it’s easy to respect what he did, even though he hung on too long. ESPN did its usual best to ruin the historic moment by completely over doing their coverage of the news that he would not start. Watching some of it, fans might have thought he had died as opposed to just missing a football game. But they apparently were not alone in tarnishing the day. Early this week, Twitter had a report that Favre was already selling record-related merchandise on his website. Any more questions about what these last few seasons were about? The merchandise was off the site as far as I could tell by the time I checked www.brettfavre.com, which interestingly redirected me to www.officialbrettfavre.com/home/ the first time I typed it into my browser.
• Did anyone else notice that Cliff Lee, in his press conference re-introducing him to Philadelphia, mentioned how Jayson Werth wasn’t very happy when the two spoke after Lee signed with the Phillies? Werth was officially introduced in Washington the same day. Talk about a quick honeymoon with the Nationals.
• Les Bowen, the Eagles beat reporter for the Daily News tweeted this afternoon, “Yeah, DeSean and Asante are out there. But after yesterday, i'm not classifying their participation til the fat coach sings.” I was genuinely shocked. Bowen always seems like a class act, but this appears to be over the line for the newspaper guy.
• Last Friday, Bowen tweeted this tidbit shortly after a DeSean Jackson tweet appeared, “@DeseanJackson10 DJax is running pass patterns right now, someone else clearly tweeting. Calls into question ‘sting they ass’ biz last yr.” Things that make you go, hmmm?
• Believe it or not, the Sixers are 7-2 in their last 9 games. They may struggle in the next two games with the Lakers and Magic coming up, but there may be signs of life from the basketball team in town.
• Yesterday, Mike Preston, Philadelphia 76ers Director of Public Relations, tweeted, “First #NBA All-Star ballot returns released and #Sixers @ai9 [Andre Iguodala] is 8th among Eastern Conference forwards.” Am I the only one thinking, “Ok, but so?” Being 8th among Eastern Conference forwards wasn’t exactly where Iguodala was supposed to be at this point in his career.
• Michael Vick said in an interview that he wanted to own a dog again. I’ve supported Vick’s right to re-enter his life since serving his time for his role in a dog fighting ring, but I just think he should have kept quiet on this one. He’s not that far removed from the incident surrounding his birthday party, after which someone was shot. He’s doing well on the field, and all indications are he’s now doing the right things off it. Even he has indicated that the birthday incident woke him up even more to how he needs to avoid trouble. I’m sure he was asked a question about owning a dog; it’s not like he brought it up, and he was respectful of the ruling he lives under – maybe even more than he had to be, as I’ve seen one report that he isn’t necessarily not allowed to own a dog ever again. But he should have sidestepped this question for now.
• In a note that would be perfect for Sports Illustrated’s “Sign of the Apocalypse,” Deadspin.com is reporting that Bodog.com has odds on the type of dog Vick might get. Sick.
• Jets strength coach Sal Alosi is either incredibly loyal or incredibly dumb. He was suspended indefinitely for tripping Dolphins special teams player Nolan Carroll during their game on Sunday. Further investigation revealed that he may have ordered several players to lineup near the sideline to try to impede “gunners” for the other team. First of all, if the strength coach has the kind of authority to order players to do this without them checking with any other coach, something is insanely wrong. Secondly, if he acted independently with the order or by tripping Carroll, he has one of the biggest egos in sports. He’s the damn strength coach! There’s no way Jets head coach Rex Ryan wasn’t involved, but Alosi hasn’t dimed him out.
• According to ProFootballTalk.com, “video has resurfaced from 2004 of Pats coach Bill Belichick apparently trying to trip former Colts receiver Marvin Harrison.” I almost want to respect the desire to win at all costs, but the effort was so weak it just makes Belichick a bigger ass.
• I usually work backwards in this weekly post – well, sort of – but it came out today that Donovan McNabb has not only been benched for Sunday behind Rex Grossman, he will then be the emergency quarterback behind John Beck for the rest of the season. As McNabb’s agent and national media cronies scramble to say how “disrespectful” the benching is, which makes absolutely zero sense, we sit back in Philadelphia and laugh. We told ya. And, by the way, what is disrespectful about it? This is the NFL. If you can’t get it done, and McNabb has really never gotten it done, you sit.
• I can’t believe I haven’t heard more about the speech Cam Newton gave after winning the Heisman Trophy on Saturday night. His father wasn’t there due to allegations that he attempted to have college recruiters pay money to get Cam to go to their school – you know, above and beyond the free tuition that everyone arguing on behalf of the athletes legally getting paid by the schools conveniently forgets. Yet, Cam Newton still said, “My parents do a lot of things behind the scenes.” I hate to quote Homer Simpson, but it seems appropriate. “Doh!”
• Tweet of the Week? I saw this on Saturday from ProFootballTalk, “Official reason for move of Giants-Vikings game to Monday night? ‘Act of Favre.’”
• Brett Favre’s streak of consecutive starts came to an end at 297 last weekend despite the game being delayed until Monday due to weather and stadium problems. Obviously, it’s easy to respect what he did, even though he hung on too long. ESPN did its usual best to ruin the historic moment by completely over doing their coverage of the news that he would not start. Watching some of it, fans might have thought he had died as opposed to just missing a football game. But they apparently were not alone in tarnishing the day. Early this week, Twitter had a report that Favre was already selling record-related merchandise on his website. Any more questions about what these last few seasons were about? The merchandise was off the site as far as I could tell by the time I checked www.brettfavre.com, which interestingly redirected me to www.officialbrettfavre.com/home/ the first time I typed it into my browser.
• Did anyone else notice that Cliff Lee, in his press conference re-introducing him to Philadelphia, mentioned how Jayson Werth wasn’t very happy when the two spoke after Lee signed with the Phillies? Werth was officially introduced in Washington the same day. Talk about a quick honeymoon with the Nationals.
• Les Bowen, the Eagles beat reporter for the Daily News tweeted this afternoon, “Yeah, DeSean and Asante are out there. But after yesterday, i'm not classifying their participation til the fat coach sings.” I was genuinely shocked. Bowen always seems like a class act, but this appears to be over the line for the newspaper guy.
• Last Friday, Bowen tweeted this tidbit shortly after a DeSean Jackson tweet appeared, “@DeseanJackson10 DJax is running pass patterns right now, someone else clearly tweeting. Calls into question ‘sting they ass’ biz last yr.” Things that make you go, hmmm?
• Believe it or not, the Sixers are 7-2 in their last 9 games. They may struggle in the next two games with the Lakers and Magic coming up, but there may be signs of life from the basketball team in town.
• Yesterday, Mike Preston, Philadelphia 76ers Director of Public Relations, tweeted, “First #NBA All-Star ballot returns released and #Sixers @ai9 [Andre Iguodala] is 8th among Eastern Conference forwards.” Am I the only one thinking, “Ok, but so?” Being 8th among Eastern Conference forwards wasn’t exactly where Iguodala was supposed to be at this point in his career.
• Michael Vick said in an interview that he wanted to own a dog again. I’ve supported Vick’s right to re-enter his life since serving his time for his role in a dog fighting ring, but I just think he should have kept quiet on this one. He’s not that far removed from the incident surrounding his birthday party, after which someone was shot. He’s doing well on the field, and all indications are he’s now doing the right things off it. Even he has indicated that the birthday incident woke him up even more to how he needs to avoid trouble. I’m sure he was asked a question about owning a dog; it’s not like he brought it up, and he was respectful of the ruling he lives under – maybe even more than he had to be, as I’ve seen one report that he isn’t necessarily not allowed to own a dog ever again. But he should have sidestepped this question for now.
• In a note that would be perfect for Sports Illustrated’s “Sign of the Apocalypse,” Deadspin.com is reporting that Bodog.com has odds on the type of dog Vick might get. Sick.
• Jets strength coach Sal Alosi is either incredibly loyal or incredibly dumb. He was suspended indefinitely for tripping Dolphins special teams player Nolan Carroll during their game on Sunday. Further investigation revealed that he may have ordered several players to lineup near the sideline to try to impede “gunners” for the other team. First of all, if the strength coach has the kind of authority to order players to do this without them checking with any other coach, something is insanely wrong. Secondly, if he acted independently with the order or by tripping Carroll, he has one of the biggest egos in sports. He’s the damn strength coach! There’s no way Jets head coach Rex Ryan wasn’t involved, but Alosi hasn’t dimed him out.
• According to ProFootballTalk.com, “video has resurfaced from 2004 of Pats coach Bill Belichick apparently trying to trip former Colts receiver Marvin Harrison.” I almost want to respect the desire to win at all costs, but the effort was so weak it just makes Belichick a bigger ass.
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