I know he didn’t shoot up a strip club, run over somebody with his car or get caught financing an underground dog fighting operation, but “King” LeBron was still an a-hole to this ball boy:
Someone should remind LeBron that he has as many championship rings as the ball boy.
And that would be 0.
The Titans have a potential problem brewing in regards to running back Chris Johnson, who was not present on Tuesday for the team’s first practice of the offseason.
The 24-year-old Johnson wants a new contract, but the Titans are hamstrung by the “30 percent” rule, which prohibits large raises of future base salaries. Even if the team wanted to pay Johnson, it would have to come up with a deal that was largely bonus-based, which is something the team would ultimately like to avoid.
GM Mike Reinfeldt recently said that he doesn’t expect Johnson to hold out and noted that Chris “has been a pro from Day 1.” But even though he missed much of last year’s offseason voluntary work, Johnson never missed a practice so there is cause for concern.
No running back was more productive than Johnson was last season. He rushed for 2,006 yards and 14 touchdowns, while also hauling in 50 receptions for 503 yards and two scores. The Titans are well aware that he’s their best offensive weapon and would be wise to lock him up long term as soon as they can. But as of right now, Johnson may have to settle for his $550,000 salary in 2010, even though he’s highly underpaid compared to the rest of the backs in the league.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
When asked how many carries he thought rookie RB Ryan Mathews would have this season, Chargers head coach Norv Turner had this to say: (SignonSanDiego.com)
“That is so hard to say, because there are games that come up like the Tennessee game and the Denver game (last season) where you run the ball 40 times. I’d like every game to be that way. Unfortunately, it’s not. But I would expect Ryan to have 250 carries and 40 catches, something like that. That’s obviously saying Darren is going to have the same role he’s had.”
As a reference, LaDainian Tomlinson carried the ball 223 times for 730 yards and 12 TD, and caught 20 passes for 154 yards. LT2 is a very good pass-catcher, but Sproles took over most of those duties in recent years, so I’m not sure how Mathews gets to 40 catches this season. The carries I can see — Tomlinson missed a couple of games and would have carried the ball about 255-260 times had he stayed healthy.
If Mathews gets that kind of work and takes over the goal-line duties, I can see a 1,000-yard season and double-digit TDs in 2010. If we project 1,100 total yards, with 10 TD and 15 catches, that puts him at 185 fantasy points (in a PPR league). Last season, those were RB20 numbers, so Mathews should go somewhere in the middle of the fourth round, along with Jerome Harrison, Ronnie Brown and Knowshon Moreno.
Man, I have to get used to spelling “Mathews” with one “t.” Sigh.
Lions head coach Jim Schwartz delivered the quote of the year on Monday with his comments about first round pick Jahvid Best.
From the Detroit Free Press:
“Some people watch adult videos on their computer. I go to YouTube and watch Jahvid Best highlight clips. That’s what gets me aroused.”
Schwartz also had a great line about Mr. Irrelevant Tim Toone:
“He’s a white guy with dreadlocks who looks like Jeff Spicoli.”
Congratulations Jim, you’ve just become a drop on Detroit sports radio for the rest of eternity.
Jahvid Best porn – there may be nothing finer.
Let the piling on Ben Roethlisberger begin.
ESPN’s Kelly Naqi recently did a story for “Outside the Lines” in which details emerged about Big Ben’s popularity (or lack thereof) among his Pittsburgh teammates. Two of his former teammates, Najeh Devenport and Mike Logan, were quoted in the story and what they had to say won’t help Roethlisberger fix his already damaged image.
From Yahoo! Sports.com:
• Davenport estimated that about 60 percent of the locker room felt like Roethlisberger thought he was “bigger than the team,” and not focused on winning.
• Davenport also discussed a time when Joey Porter(notes) called out Roethlisberger in a team meeting for being the last one in to practice and the first one to leave. Porter also accused Roethlisberger of not being dedicated to the team, and criticized him for not fraternizing with his teammates.
• Mike Logan confirmed the incident where Porter addressed Roethlisberger, and said that all the things Porter mentioned were already being talked about in the locker room.
• Someone identified only as “a close friend of a Steelers player” said that the reason Roethlisberger had a bodyguard was because of an incident where a man put a gun to Roethlisberger’s head because Roethlisberger was involved with the man’s girlfriend.
• Naqi spoke with people who work at Pittsburgh bars and nightclubs, and they described Ben as someone who was condescending to the staffs and rude to other customers. One bar owner said Roethlisberger always expected he and his entourage to be given free food and drinks.
I remember when news started to break left and right about Michael Vick’s involvement in dog fighting. One day he was being indicted, and the next came intimate details about how he had always spent money carelessly, was always mixed up with the wrong people and how the Falcons were always covering up for him. So this story about Roethlisberger isn’t shocking. In fact, it would have been more surprising if new details didn’t emerge about what a piece of crap he is.
Usually when a celebrity is down, that’s when it’s the perfect time to kick him. I’m not saying these new details aren’t true (how would I know either way?), but this story seems incredibly convenient. Everyone already thinks Roethlisberger is a slimy douche, so why not toss more fuel onto the fire? If he’s going to burn, let’s make him burn.
It’s all about timing. Had this story not come out on the tails of his latest sexual assault incident, then nobody would have cared. Either that, or we all would have written this off as just another athlete that thinks he’s above it and then we would have all quickly moved on.
Regardless, Big Ben has a lot of work ahead of him if he wants to change the way people perceive him. If it matters to him, then it sounds like he’s going to have to make wholesale changes immediately. And his former teammates aren’t making things easier on him, that’s for sure.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
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