An early entrant into the Dumb Bunny of the Year competition has to be Pacman Jones. Eleven months ago, he got into enough hot water over a shooting incident at a Las Vegas strip club that he earned a year’s suspension from the NFL. He did not spend those eleven months in a monastic existence; hell, he wasn’t even able to stay away from the police for all of that time. Now, the Atlanta papers report that he was involved in another “incident” where he allegedly punched a woman – - wait for it – - at a strip club. To complete his exacta, the woman who alleges that he punched her is a lawyer.
I am not a prude; I do not believe that strip clubs are a sign of the impending apocalypse. Nonetheless, I do not frequent strip clubs for the same reason that I do not watch porn. I do not consider that sex is a spectator sport. I have no interest in evangelizing my beliefs in this area; adults should make their own decisions here. However, in the case of Pacman Jones, this man ought to find ways to sublimate whatever it is that he derives from going to strip clubs and find a way to accrue those benefits/pleasures to himself in the privacy of his own home. I suspect that is what an adult might conclude in this situation.
I do not want to go all “Weather Channel” on you here, but when you prepare to watch the Packers/Giants game on Sunday, you might want to put on a pair of long underwear. It may be cold enough in Green Bay for some of that cold to leak out through your TV set into your home. [Aside: I’m a scientist by training; I know that can’t happen; but if it could…] On Friday and Saturday, the overnight lows will be sub-zero; on Sunday, it will warm up all the way to 8 degrees before “cooling off”; kickoff in Green Bay will be after sunset.
So, what is the over/under on the number of guys in the stands sufficiently “lubricated” that they will be seen shirtless on TV?
Last weekend the Colts and the Cowboys showed up for their games with records of 13-3. Both of them lost. Do you think that the Triskaidekaphobia Society of America members said, “I told you so”? Yes, I know that the Packers were also 13-3 for the regular season, but two out of three isn’t bad…
Of the four teams with first round byes in the playoffs, three of them rested their starters in the final game of the season for most if not all of the game. Two of the three teams that rested players lost. In addition, the Giants played their starters for all of their final game against the Pats and then obviously played the starters in the wild card round of the playoffs. The Giants have won both of their playoff outings. So much for the certitude of the “resting your starters” hypothesis…
By the way, give some credit to Jimmy Johnson. On last Sunday’s FOX pre-game show, he said definitively that he thought the Packers were the best team in the NFC and not the Cowboys. I presume that means he will be picking the Packers to win this Sunday, but he made that call a week ago.
The Colts lost on Sunday because their defense was just miserable. Not only were they off balance for much of the game, but their tackling left a whole lot to be desired. The NFL fined an umpire, James Quirk, a game check for throwing a linebacker to the ground during a game. [Aside: Was Quirk the inspiration for the Bud Light commercial where the official sacks the QB to get a Bud Light or vice-versa?] Given the way the Colts’ defense played last weekend, they may have wished they had signed him during their bye week to play defensive back.
Before I am accused of piling on the Colts here, please recognize that they are the first team in NFL history to win 12 or more games in five consecutive seasons. In addition, Tony Dungy has had his team in the playoffs for nine straight seasons (in Tampa and Indy); the only other NFL coach to do that was Tom Landry. Whether you love or hate the Colts, those are two praiseworthy accomplishments.
The Chargers opened as a 15.5-point underdog against the Pats this weekend. Without trying to reconstruct the spreads for every conference championship game, I just know that has to be unprecedented in the time of the NFL’s 12-team playoff format. Last week, the Pats opened as 11.5-point favorites against the Jags – and the line expanded through the week. The Pats won but did not cover.
Speaking of the Chargers, if my understanding is correct, they are free and clear to leave San Diego at the end of the 2008 NFL season. There is no deal in place to build them a new stadium; the current stadium has been designated as “unsuitable and unredeemable”. If I am correct in that assessment, look for a boatload of jockeying and posturing and PR driven events over the next six to eight months in San Diego.
Imagine for just a moment that the Chargers do leave town. Where might they go? If they move anywhere other than Los Angeles, that would leave the NFL with exactly zero teams in all of SoCal; can the league really allow that to happen? Could the Chargers move to Toronto – giving the NFL an international footprint? Would that necessitate a realignment to prevent Toronto being in the AFC West? Can Portland support an NFL franchise? Would they want to try? The elephant in the room has to be Las Vegas… This might all become very interesting over the next few months.
Some columnists and commentators have gotten themselves in high dudgeon over the fact that Kelly Tilghman still has a job at The Golf Channel after her inappropriate remark about young golfers needing to “lynch Tiger Woods in a back alley” to improve their position within the PGA. Some of them are calling for a boycott of The Golf Channel. Here is the fundamental problem with calling for a boycott in this situation.
If I wanted to join them in their boycott, I would first have to patronize The Golf Channel so I could then stop watching it. Given the ratings, that would seem to be the case for the vast majority of people in the US. It’s hard to organize people to boycott something they already ignore.
Finally, an observation by Mike Bianchi in the Orlando Sentinel:
“Last word: Now that Tony Romo has become Jessica Simpson’s new boy toy, isn’t it only a matter of time before he stops barking out the signals and starts lip-synching them?”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports…