Month: February 2009 (Page 12 of 57)

      Brett Favre extended interview with Ed Werder

      February 23, 2009 /

      The clip runs over 20 minutes, and it provides some insight into Favre’s thinking last summer when he was trying to rejoin the Packers.

      I do wish that Werder had asked Favre about the report that he was all set to return in the March of 2008, but as Mike McCarthy and Ted Thompson were set to fly to Mississippi to finalize things, he called it off at the last minute. I think that was the reason that the Packers moved on, but unfortunately it wasn’t addressed in this interview. He never really talks about how his wishy-washiness on the subject of retirement puts the franchise in a tough position summer after summer, though he seems pretty level-headed about Green Bay’s decision to move on.

      NFL, Rumors & Gossip, Video

      Correcting Rick Reilly, Part 2: Rick wants coaches to show less class

      February 23, 2009 /

      Every issue of ESPN The Magazine ends the same way. I absolutely dread flipping to Rick Reilly’s back page column because it usually throws me into a state of depression. I can’t believe that ESPN is paying Reilly what they are when the guy can only produce a good, entertaining column once in a blue moon.

      Reilly’s column for the Feb. 23 issue is no different. He starts off with a bad joke.

      I’ve been fired more than pottery.

      Ugh.

      Hey, at least he didn’t shoehorn in some stale pop culture reference. I’ll give him that.

      He then runs down his personal employment history, or at least those jobs that didn’t end well.

      I was fired from my first job at 12. Some people apparently don’t want their tulips mowed. I was fired from my babysitting gig at 13. Who knew a diaper wouldn’t completely flush? Got fired as a machine/tool rental store assistant at 16. Thought the boss said, “Fifteen parts oil, one part gas in the jackhammers.” Turns out, it was the other way around. Pick-ee.

      And how did I react whenever I got canned? Not well. Once, my pals and I egged the offending organization’s window front.

      So he performs horribly at his job and reacts to getting fired by vandalizing his ex-employee’s place of business? Nice.

      He then goes on about how coaches are too nice after they’ve been fired.

      Most of these guys didn’t even deserve to lose their jobs, and they’re acting like they just got handed a freaking fruit basket. Me? I’d go triple Sean Penn! I’d scream! I’d sue! I’d tear paintings off walls! I’d race into the GM’s office and spit on his wife’s photo! I’d snatch the owner’s toupee and set it on fire!

      But listen to Tommy Tuberville. He was forced out of Auburn with an 85–40 record in 10 seasons, including seven wins against Alabama. Afterward, he issued a statement that read: “I’m going to remain in Auburn and help the Auburn family however I can.”

      If I went 85–40 and got axed, this would be my statement: I’m going to remain in Auburn and watch mailmen deliver the $10,000 of porn I’ve ordered on your Visas to all of your homes. You’re going to regret this until three weeks after you croak. And just try to mess with my pension. I have the Christmas-party video.

      Or listen to Edwards. After the season, the Chiefs left Edwards twisting in the wind for a month before letting him go. How did Edwards take it? “I respect the tough decision that was made,” he said in a statement. “I wish the organization the very best.”

      Herm, you FIGHT to KEEP your JOB!

      Now he dishes out advice for those coaches that have been axed.

      The American way is to do what dump truck driver Julian Burnett of Orange County, Fla., did when he was fired last year by his boss, who also happened to be his sister. He drove that dump truck straight up his sister’s driveway and through her garage, which just happened to contain her BMW. Ooh, my bad, sis. You won’t tell Mom, right?

      Great example you’re setting there, Rick.

      Now he’s going to call out Mike Shanahan…

      Of all of them, it’s Shanahan’s reaction that most flummoxes me. He was fired by a guy who is practically his best friend, Pat Bowlen, after a year in which he lost seven—seven!—running backs to injuries…And get this: Shanahan got pink-slipped while he was in the middle of building a 35,000-square-foot home and a new restaurant. Thanks, buddy!

      So owners can’t fire coaches if they are building a home or a new restaurant? I’m confused.

      But does Shanahan nail Bowlen’s door shut? Spray paint his polo ponies? Snap all his Pings? No, he gets up at the press conference and calls Bowlen “the best owner in sports,” and adds he probably had it coming. “Your job is to win championships, and we have not won a championship in a while.”

      First thing I’d do? Tie Bowlen’s tongue in a knot. Then I’d e-mail every suspicious looking picture I had of him to TMZ. Then I’d threaten to tell the media all the secrets I knew. Actually, who needs the media? Shanahan just bought a piece of The Denver Post’s old printing press. You’re going to fire a guy with his own printing press?

      Or how about this, Mike? Your new house is only a three-minute drive from Bowlen’s, right? Get yourself a massive catapult.

      And a whole lot of eggs.

      All right, so Rick’s advice to people when they get fired (for just cause or not) is to freak out. Some might write this whole column off as one big joke, but if that’s the case, I just don’t get the humor. He seems to be serious when he talks about how frustrated he is with the way coaches handle being fired.

      It’s called class. If a coach freaks out after the decision has been made to fire him, it’s only going to make him look like an ass. He still has a career to think about. Is he more or less likely to get another head coaching job if he acts like a petulant child? Why would an owner want to hire a guy who is mentally unhinged (or, at the very least, can’t handle adversity) to run his football team?

      I can hear the phone conversation between the editor of ESPN The Mag and his boss right now…

      Editor: I just read Rick’s column, and…um…it doesn’t really make any sense.
      Boss: How do you mean?
      Editor: Well, the premise is, I guess, that Rick thinks that coaches should freak out when they’re fired.
      Boss: Is it funny?
      Editor: Not really.
      Boss: Do you have any idea what we’re paying this guy?
      Editor: Yes. And I think it’s way too–
      Boss: Then run the f*cking column! I don’t care if it makes sense! (click)
      Editor: (sigh)

      Related content: Correcting Rick Reilly, Part 1: Rick should stop trying to be funny

      College Football, Humor, NBA, NFL

      Big Papi worked out at gym of steroid-linked trainer Presinal

      February 23, 2009 /

      Red Sox slugger David Ortiz admitted to working out at the gym of Angel Presinal’s in the Dominican Republic. Presinal is the trainer who has been banned from private sectors of MLB clubhouses due to his ties to steroids and recently was mentioned as having links to Alex Rodriguez.

      David Ortiz“This place where he works out is a facility that’s like five minutes away from my house,” Ortiz said. “It’s like an Olympic place where everyone goes and hits, runs, gets all their work in. It’s like in the middle of everyone’s houses, so we all go down there and work out. He’s a good trainer. He’s the guy that teaches you how to train, how to get your body ready to go. Besides that, I have no idea about any of this.”

      Presinal was banned from big league clubhouses in 2001 after border agents in Toronto intercepted a gym bag full of steroids that Presinal signed for. When questioned, he told investigators it belonged to Indians outfielder Juan Gonzalez.

      “He got into some trouble before from what I hear, and that’s something he’s got to deal with, especially with what’s going on,” Ortiz said.

      I wouldn’t read too much into this. Just because Ortiz is pumping iron and Presinal’s gym during the offseason doesn’t mean he’ll be the latest name mentioned in baseball’s ongoing steroid situation.

      MLB

      Jim Calhoun dresses down a reporter

      February 23, 2009 /

      Mental note: Don’t question Jim Calhoun about his salary.

      I’ve never been a big Jim Calhoun fan, though there is no doubt that he’s a great coach. My problem with him is the faces that he makes on the sideline. Trivial stuff, I know.

      It’s funny how his demeanor changes as he realizes that the reporter is seriously questioning his salary. He starts off with a joke — “not a penny back” — and then you can literally see him get angry as the reporter continues.

      He has a point. He’s essentially the CEO of the Connecticut basketball program, which has been one of the most successful programs in the country over the years. Yes, the economy is in the crapper and technically he’s a state employee. But to the University of Connecticut, he’s worth every dime.

      This is the United States. We don’t begrudge anyone for making a ton of money if they are good at what they do.

      College Basketball, Humor, Video

      King would be surprised if Cassel is a Patriot in ‘09

      February 23, 2009 /

      In his latest addition of “Monday Morning Quarterback”, Peter King of SI.com writes that he would be surprised if Matt Cassel was a Patriot in 2009.

      I’m surprised that a quarterback who played as well as Cassel did for the last 10 weeks of the season is being viewed by most people in the league as too risky to chart a long-term course with. It’s not often in free agency or in trade that a young quarterback with promise is available. And while I understand it’s a millstone around Cassel that he’d require probably two fairly high picks plus an average of $14 million-ish a year in a contract, I still think I’d rather have Cassel as my quarterback of the future than, say, Matthew Stafford. And the money’s not that much different.

      The logical places for New England to trade Cassel are Kansas City (because Scott Pioli is the man who drafted him in 2005 in New England), Detroit (because the Lions have $36 million in cap room and three of the top 33 picks to play with), Tampa Bay (because the Bucs have $55 million in cap room and no QB of the future), Minnesota (because Brad Childress needs a long-term quarterback) and the 49ers (because their quarterback is named Shaun Hill). I don’t buy San Francisco or Minnesota because of the draft picks they’d have to give up, plus neither are cash-rich. The Lions don’t seem inclined to risk taking a quarterback they’re unsure of; ditto the Bucs.

      That leaves Cassel’s old pal Pioli. I think Cassel and Todd Haley would make beautiful music together. The Hunt family wouldn’t grouse at the money. But I say no — not because Pioli doesn’t love the kid. I say no because of Pioli’s history. The Patriots took Tom Brady with the 199th pick in 2000. They took Cassel with the 230th pick in 2005. Let’s say the Patriots asked Kansas City for its second-round pick in 2009 and 2010. Pioli values picks in the thirties the way most team value picks in the teens. I’d be stunned if he did it. I think he’d trust Haley to pick a Josh Freeman in this draft in the third round, let’s say, and work with Freeman, Brodie Croyle and Tyler Thigpen over the next couple of years and say, “Let the best man win.”

      King kind of contradicts himself by saying he’d be surprised if Cassel remains a Patriot, then goes on in detail about how all of the leading candidates to acquire him won’t acquire him. But that’s not to say I disagree with anything he wrote.

      The Patriots are probably going to have to back down their demands in order to trade Cassel. I could see a team forking over a first and third round pick, but two first rounders or a first and a second seem like too much.

      NFL

      « Older posts Newer posts »

      © 2026 The Scores Report – The National Sports Blog

      Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑