nfl

Dirty HGH Player vs T.O.

Jeromey Balderrama

Let me get one thing straight: I can’t stand T.O.  My disdain towards Owens has been well documented here and here, so it really messed with my mind when I write a post defending him.  But here I go.

Last Sunday T.O. broke his streak of 185 games with at least when catch, when he went absolutely stat-less against the Saints.  Obligated to go to the Press  Conference, tried to be as short as possible, repeatedly saying “I just go with the plays that are called.”  Owens was pissed, and whether that is right or wrong Rodney Harrison lashed out at him on NBC’s “Football Night In America”, with this gem of a quote:

"He’s a clown. He’s all about the circus show and the cameras, and it’s all about that. But you best believe he’ll have Shawn Springs in his grill and Brandon Meriweather will be putting his helmet down his throat. So I’m excited about seeing that on Monday." [From USAToday]

I think Rodney Harrison is the perfect example why players should have a TV waiting period, or spend a year in purgatory (aka the NFL Network) before they get these National Network TV Gigs.  Harrison has a right to speak his mind, and I’m not going to argue that it should be taken away from him.  However, for him to make remarks that disparaging on “Football Night”, with his national platform, shows pretty poor judgment.  I really have no idea what NBC was thinking when they hired Harrison.  Throughout his career he was continually voted the dirtiest player in the NFL, and he doesn’t seem to have that charisma that other former players possess when they’re on TV.  It seems Harrison is only engaging when other commentators ask him a question, and when he responds it looks like the other commentators are hoping Harrison won’t punch them out.

T.O., through his Twitter account fired back, in pretty hilarious fashion:

"I could less about Rodney Harrison! Anybody tht using steroids, yes STEROIDS rodney, is a cheater & cheated the game! … Is tht Y u used steroids b/c u were worried about ur stats or ws it b/c u were losing it? Lol! U’re a loser & a cheater? Got any steroid … Hey rodney! Send me sum steroids 2 the Bills facility next week!" [From USAToday]

Owens is talking about Harrison’s 4-game suspension for using HGH in 2007, which was a pretty classic response.  How did Harrison fire back? By completely ignoring the Steroid fact:

"When it comes down to it, I’m a champion. He’ll never have that on his resume. He’ll never be a champion. He’ll look at his stats and say I was a great football player, but I was never a champion. You always have to stand up and be accountable for your actions. As a football player you have to be accountable. Regardless of whether you had 10 catches or zero catches.” [Dan Patrick Show]

Classy Rodney, in the same phrase that you completely ignore the HGH comments, you talk about need to be accountable for your actions.  As much as it pains me to say it, T.O. looks like the guy on top of this one. It was great that he followed up that phrase by demonstrating that he’s more of a Patriots mouthpiece than he is a studio analyst.

With these analysts booths growing as large as they are, is it too much to ask to put some kind of standards in choosing who they put in front of a national audience?  Give players a year or two to get out of the player mentality and shift towards a better analytical contributor.

Hopefully the last Cutler post ever

Jeromey Balderrama

The picture of Cutler showing his Bear excitement was too classic to wait for a post, but I have plenty of thoughts over what transpired last weekend in Denver. Rather than rehash the whole scenario, I just wanted to offer a few random thoughts.

cutler2

First off, Cutler had to go.  He could talk about feeling snubbed by McDaniels all he wants – but when he stops taking call from the guy who signs his checks, Cutler becomes just another disgruntled employee who should be shown the door.  The nerve that he had to claim that he never received any calls, and never wanted to be traded said all that you needed to know about his character.  Despite what really happened – and we may never know – this situation was beyond repair.

Now the Bears, that was definitely a team I didn’t expect to be vying for Cutler, but it all made sense. I think this was a good move by both teams.  People can debate who got the better of the deal, but only time will tell.  It’s up to the Broncos to make smart decisions with these picks, which they’ve honestly could have done better with our First Round track record.  I still think Mark Sanchez may end up in Orange and Blue before we know it.

I like Kyle Orton.  He’s obviously not as talented at Cutler, but is a winning quarterback who did throw for 3,000 yards last year.  When you considered the other quarterbacks on the trading block (Jason Campbell, Brady Quinn), Orton is was probably the most consistent of all.

While the dust settles, it’s still frustrating to think that Bronco fans have endured all of this drama.  After being known as one of the more stable and quiet organizations in the NFL, to have this kind of circus is very Dallas-like.  I’m sick of hearing about Cutlergate every time I turned on ESPN.

Favre Retired (Again)

Jeromey Balderrama

Sometimes sequels just shouldn’t be made, but here we go again.

The front page of ESPN.com says it all:

FavreRetired-Again

I’m not going to rehash my thoughts on Brett Favre, his career and where he stands in Football, or the saga of his un-retirement last year – but I will say this: 2009 didn’t do Favre or the Jets any good.

Also how does that salt on the open wound feel to Packers fans, seeing this image of Brett riding off wearing green & white?  You’d be hard pressed to find any images on ESPN of Favre with a Green Bay jersey.

Sharpe & the Hall

Jeromey Balderrama

I’m hoping to find time to send some pre-Super Bowl football thoughts, but I wanted to put this out there before this year’s Hall of Fame class was announced.

I just wanted to send some positive thoughts to one of the greatest players to wear the Orange & Blue.  Sharpe deserves to go in as a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer.

There’s been a lot of debate in the sports world over whether Sharpe deserves to go in during his first year of consideration.  There has been a lot of resistance against Shannon.  Their justification is that they don’t consider him a Tight End, but rather a Wide Receiver.  Totally disregarding his position, they examine his stats against other Wide Receivers not in the Hall – namely Cris Carter – and justify a vote against Sharpe.  That logic is complete crap to me, as Sharpe helped revolutionize the tight end position to become a major offensive weapon.  The fact that the position has evolved to incorporate receiving does not mean that all Tight Ends are now wide receivers.  Sharpe has been considered a Tight End throughout all of his career, to now be considered a Wide Receiver is pretty shady.  I’m also a big fan of Cris Carter, and want to see him in the hall – but not at the expense of Shannon Sharpe.

The other argument against Sharpe is that because he is amongst the first receiving Tight Ends to be considered, he may set a low bar that Tony Gonzalez and other Tight Ends may easily hurdle.  Again this fails to realize that Sharpe revolutionized the position and still was the most politic Tight End when he played.  Gonzalez may be shattering more of Sharpe’s records, but he’s following down a path that Sharpe blazed.  At the end of the day, it comes down to the Rings: Sharpe has 3, Gonzalez has 0. 

I’m not a conspiracy theorist that believes that the HoF voters have something against the Broncos, but I do think that it’s an insult to look at Sharpe the way they are.  I hope Sharpe gets in this year, but it’s only a matter of time before he’s recognized for his accomplishments.