I remember watching this live in 1988, as Ben Johnson blew away Car Lewis in the stunning 100 meter final. I had bet a friend $20 on the race and was thrilled with the result.
Of course, Ben Johnson cheated with steroids, and he had to surrender his gold medal. Carl Lewis was cheated out of his rightful place on the podium, and I had to return the $20.
When I watch the video again, I’m struck by how Lewis sought out Johnson after the race to congratulate him and Johnson barely acknowledged his. Not only was he a cheater, but he was a classless cheater.
Tim Tebow is a pretty mediocre quarterback, but he’s a hell of a football player. I thought Denver was nuts to draft him in the first round, as he wasn’t a good investment as a traditional drop back passer.
Even so, his competitiveness and athletic ability helped him lead the Broncos to some incredible victories.
That said, few teams wanted him after the Broncos jumped on the opportunity to get Peyton Manning. The Jets, however, decided to bring him on board and use him as a Wildcat quarterback, and this week they started installing these packages during training camp.
ESPN has naturally been taking some flack for their obsessive Tebow/Jets coverage, but it’s still a compelling story. Rex Ryan brought on Tony Sparano, and they’re going against conventional wisdom as they draw up plays for Tebow to run the offense near the goal line and in short yardage situations.
I love it, as Tebow has the skills to be an incredible Wildcat quarterback. He’ll give the Jets tremendous flexibility in these situations and opposing defenses will have much more to plan for each week.
Everyone seems concerned about Mark Sanchez’s psyche, but I think he’ll be able to handle this. Tebow is very difficult to stop in short yardage situations, and that will give the Jets a serious advantage.
I know I’m in the minority here. Even President Obama proclaimed this quarterback “controversy” to be a bad idea. But I think the Jets are planning on using Tebow exactly how he should be used.
I love this old clip of Chad Ochocinco Johnson from HBO’s “Hard Knocks” several years ago. We get a glimpse of how financially illiterate some pro athletes can be, as Marvin Lewis tries to explain to Chad how banks work.
Then at the end we learn that Johnson basically lives off of McDonald’s food. But anyone over the age of 30 knows that you can get away eating this stuff when you’re young and burn tons of calories, but as you get older you need to start eating better. As a pro athlete, Johnson clearly could handle fast food with all the calories he burns, but now he’s getting older as well. He’s fighting the perception that he’s lost a step, and I’d love to know if he still eats garbage every day.
Mike Wallace’s speed is his biggest asset. His slowness in reporting to training camp — at least in the Steelers’ minds — is suddenly his biggest liability.
The Steelers did a not-so-slow burn Wednesday when the super-fast Wallace, ignoring the Steelers’ history of refusing to negotiate when a player is not in camp, declined to sign his $2.472 million tender offer and did not show up at St. Vincent College.
Wallace and the Steelers have been working on a multi-year contract for some time — teammate Emmanuel Sanders suggested the two sides were close — but the Steelers always shut down such talks when a player isn’t in camp. This won’t be an exception.
Let’s see how this plays out. The Steelers are taking a hard line on their policy of no negotiations for players holding out, but this might just spiral out of control.
Meanwhile, Mike Tomlin got a much-deserved contract extension. Shockingly, one idiot on ESPN actually criticized extending a coach that has been to two Super Bowls with one title. It’s another example of too many talking heads debating both sides of every conceivable issue.
