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      Forget Vick – you too Nike.

      October 2, 2009 /

      The Washington Post asked me to participate in their NFL blog “The League” for the 2009 season. Below is a recent post I wrote for the site about whether or not Nike should endorse Michael Vick again.

      I’m over what Michael Vick did.

      That might sound jarring or cruel to some people, but I am – I’m over it.

      For the record, I think Vick is inhumane for what he put those dogs through. Reading what transpired on Moonlight Road made me sick and I think the punishment fit the crime.

      But let’s move on. What’s done is done and he served his time, so let him rot in Philly as a backup quarterback, Wildcat formation specialist or Andy Reid’s personal dry cleaning assistant. I don’t care – and neither should Nike.

      When “the swoosh” got word that Vick was involved in an illegal dog-fighting operation two years ago, they did the only thing they could: They dropped him like a bad cell phone connection.

      Just recently, Vick’s agency announced that its client had struck a new deal with Nike, although the manufacturer claims that it has only agreed to supply product to Vick, as it does with numerous other athletes who are not officially under contract with them.

      Either way, why should Nike bother endorsing Vick period? Because he used to be an icon? Because he used to make people’s eyes pop out of their head every time he escaped from the pocket? He went to jail – his opportunities of being endorsed by anyone should be over.

      Read the entire article at the Washington Post.

      NFL

      2009 NHL Preview: Phoenix Coyotes

      October 2, 2009 /

      We’ve partnered with On Goal Analysis to bring you a team-by-team preview of the upcoming NHL season. (Just scroll down on the OGA website and hit the calendar.) Here is the preview for the Phoenix Coyotes…

      SUMMER SPLASH

      * Wow. What a summer it’s been for hockey in the desert. Or the potential vanishing of the same. If you have yet to hear/read about the current bankruptcy hearings in court for the Phoenix Coyotes, all you really need to know at this point is the Phoenix (Glendale) Coyotes are staying put. For now. For a brief history, there’s this: New arena built far from fan-base and team does not win enough games to convince locals to drive to Glendale. Guy from Canada wants to buy the team and park it near Toronto. NHL doesn’t want to move/close/admit defeat/whatever with the club in Phoenix and now, temporarily, owns the franchise. It’s a nasty affair and is still unsettled, but an emergency meeting for the parties involved has been called for by the federal bankruptcy judge overseeing the case. For more on this recent development, see the Coyotes site here.

      * Everything typed above could change with the stroke of a pen from a judge. Everything typed above could change if this team comes out of the gates strong this season, wins and the fans remember where they put their car keys. The area is a tough market for a ‘fourth’ sport and this may be a case of sports-saturation. But considering this part of the southwestern US houses what are lovingly referred to as ‘Snow Birds’, you would think some of these Canadian and Michigan ex-pats would get their butts in the seats and enjoy some hockey. I’m just saying…

      * Bridging the gap between management maneuvers and player moves, is the coach. In short, Wayne Gretzky may or may not still be the coach of the Coyotes. With his ties in ownership of the team and part of the bankruptcy filing, Gretzky is low-profile these days (read:AWOL) and the Coyotes are working through camp and the pre-season without him. Assistant coach Ulf Samuelsson is acting as head coach while the true status of Gretzky is unknown. He is still listed as the coach but is not coaching and the local media and fans are thinking a fresh start (no Great Big Salary behind the bench) might be the right skate forward.

      Click here to read the rest of the preview (which includes the site’s unique Playoff Qualifying Curve and fantasy information) at the On Goal Analysis site.

      NHL

      Lab used Ted Williams’ head for batting practice

      October 2, 2009 /

      The New York Daily News is reporting that workers at an Arizona cryonics facility mutilated the frozen head of baseball legend Ted Williams by dismantling it from his body and then using it for batting practice.

      Here are some of the bizarre details:

      In “Frozen,” Larry Johnson, a former exec at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Scottsdale, Ariz., graphically describes how The Splendid Splinter” was beheaded, his head frozen and repeatedly abused.

      The book, out Tuesday from Vanguard Press, tells how Williams’ corpse became “Alcorian A-1949” at the facility, where bodies are kept suspended in liquid nitrogen in case future generations learn how to revive them.

      Johnson writes that in July 2002, shortly after the Red Sox slugger died at age 83, technicians with no medical certification gleefully photographed and used crude equipment to decapitate the majors’ last .400 hitter.

      Williams’ severed head was then frozen, and even used for batting practice by a technician trying to dislodge it from a tuna fish can.
      The chief operating officer of Alcor for eight months before becoming a whistleblower in 2003, Johnson wrote his book while in hiding, fearful for his life.

      Johnson writes that holes were drilled in Williams’ severed head for the insertion of microphones, then frozen in liquid nitrogen while Alcor employees recorded the sounds of Williams’ brain cracking 16 times as temperatures dropped to -321 degrees Fahrenheit.

      Johnson writes that the head was balanced on an empty can of Bumble Bee tuna to keep it from sticking to the bottom of its case.
      Johnson describes watching as another Alcor employee removed Williams’ head from the freezer with a stick, and tried to dislodge the tuna can by swinging at it with a monkey wrench.

      The technician, no .406 hitter like the baseball legend, missed the can with several swings of the wrench and smacked Williams’ head directly, spraying “tiny pieces of frozen head” around the room.

      Johnson accuses the company of joking morbidly about mailing Williams’ thawing remains back to his family if his son didn’t pay his outstanding debt to the company.

      I don’t even know where to begin with this. How can somebody be so sick, twisted and inhumane? Forget for a second that this was one of the greatest baseball players of all time – the actions of these people are just downright sick and creepy.

      This is something straight out of a freaking Quentin Tarantino movie.

      MLB

      2009 NHL Preview: Philadelphia Flyers

      October 2, 2009 /

      We’ve partnered with On Goal Analysis to bring you a team-by-team preview of the upcoming NHL season. (Just scroll down on the OGA website and hit the calendar.) Here is the preview for the Philadelphia Flyers…

      SUMMER SPLASH

      * Salary cap issues in Philadelphia put management in the mode of tackling the business end of an appropriate budget while under the belief this team is built to win NOW. A pivotal player from last season, Mike Knuble, went to Washington as a result of operating procedures.

      * The biggest news from the summer was the deal Philly made to acquire Chris Pronger from the Ducks. The cost was hefty, though as the Flyers dealt Joffrey Lupul and future defenseman, Luca Sbisa. They also had to give up their first round pick for the 2009 draft but feel Pronger may be the missing piece on the blue line to help take the team progress deeper into the playoffs (and past PA-rival Pittsburgh). But perhaps the Flyers felt plenty-stocked on current, producing first round picks to make the move. See below in the Frozen Pill’s Fantasy Dose for examples on why Philadelphia believes the current team is the one to win with.

      * Another key addition over the summer was the signing of Colorado’s Ian Laperriere. The Bully-quotient just went up on Broad St. How this will affect one major area of on-ice concern from last season (the undisciplined play and time spent in the penalty box) remains to be seen. One would think, adversely. And so far, in the pre-season, the nasties have it.

      * Goalie Swap! OUT are Marty Biron (NYI) and Antero Niittymaki (TBL). IN are (he’s back…), Ray Emery (NHL_exile) and Brian Boucher (SJS). The choices here are the results of a money-conscience team willing to take some chances…hoping the awesomeness assembled in front of the crease infects the play in the blue paint, too. More on this next in the Fantasy Dose, below.

      Click here to read the rest of the preview (which includes the site’s unique Playoff Qualifying Curve and fantasy information) at the On Goal Analysis site.

      NHL

      Should Oregon reinstate Blount?

      October 2, 2009 /

      Remember LeGarrette Blount?

      Of course you do – he’s the Oregon running back that was viewed as a potential Heisman candidate before he decked Boise State’s Byron Hout in the face following the Ducks’ 19-8 loss to the Broncos in the opening week of the season. He was subsequently suspend for the rest of the season by head coach Chip Kelly, although not it appears that Oregon could allow him to be reinstated as long as he meets certain conditions.

      Per ESPN:

      Kelly said he set down academic, behavior and football-related “ladders” that Blount must achieve for possible reinstatement, which would not come before Oregon’s Nov. 7 game against Stanford.

      “There’s a distinct possibility he’ll never play football here again,” Kelly said. “But the ball is in LeGarrette’s court.”

      Blount hasn’t endeared himself to many within the Oregon program with his actions over the last two years. But I happen to think that this was a good move by Kelly.

      If Blount has nothing to work for, what’s from stopping him from continuing to get into more trouble? Kelly is giving him the opportunity to play football again as long as he succeeds in the classroom (positive), doesn’t misbehave (positive) and puts in hard work at practice (positive). If he screws up again, then he’s done for the rest of the season, just as he was before. But if he succeeds, then he proves to himself that hard work and good behavior can get him what he wants in life.

      Granted, some may look at this as Kelly going back on the suspension in order to get his star player back onto the field now that Oregon has rattled off three straight wins. But Kelly said the earliest Blount could return is November 7, which means the running back would miss the next four games (including USC on October 31) no matter what. I hardly view this as a sign that Kelly’s only mission is to get Blount back in uniform.

      It’ll be interesting to see if Blount can meet Kelly’s requirements and turn a negative situation into a positive one.

      College Football

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