Unlikely Words » football

Ravens-Patriots trash talk from The Wire

aaron cohen — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 17:18:09 +0000

All sports trash talk should be done with images from The Wire.

Original images by Jake's friend, Jake, and Jamie.

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The Patriots always kick off

aaron cohen — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 22:18:04 +0000

Earlier in the season, I noticed that it seemed like the Patriots were always kicking off to start games. I didn't think a lot about it until a Boston Globe article this weekend made it clear how often they do this. I only noticed because when I used to play Madden, I'd kick off to start every game, too. Since 9/7/08 (opening day of the 08 season (the day Brady got hurt)), the Patriots have played 65 games and won the coin toss 43% of the time. In each of those 28 games, they've kicked off in the 1st quarter and received the ball to start the 2nd half.

If you talk to Bill Belichick, he'll tell you they talk about it before every game, “We discuss that every week. If we win the toss, if we lose the toss, what the wind is going to be, whatever the conditions are. We talk about it before every game.’’ I don't believe that at all, actually, but so far, only one team has made the Patriots receive to start the game.

Incidentally, a study from earlier in the year said that the team that won the coin flip won the football game 52.6% of the time.

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Happy birthday, Bo Jackson

aaron cohen — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:58:19 +0000

Today is Bo Jackson's 49th birthday, so I thought I'd watch a Bo Jackson video and then I watched about 10. The first video shocked me because I'm never ready for how big he is or how fast. And he was both.

Here are some videos and articles including football Bo, baseball Bo, Letterman Bo, Sesame St Bo, ect. The articles are interspersed with the videos. Make sure to watch the Tecmo Bo.

First mention of Bo in SI from 1982

The tackle that ended his career

Ralph Wiley suggesting Bo will have to choose

Bo on the go

On homering in first game back after injury

A hip injury

All Bo's SI covers

Maybe the first profile

Gammons

Bo Jackson, the Heisman winner

Where is he now, from 2003

Bo must choose

If Bo Jackson doesn't return

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CLEAR EYES FULL HEART

aaron cohen — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 15:06:22 +0000

Kyle Chandler finally won an Emmy last night. To celebrate, here's an Emmy trailer video. I don't know if it's official, but it officially gave me chills. So there's that. Watch it if you want to run through a brick wall.

Texas forever.

Via Stellar

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What’s your opinion on this?

aaron cohen — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 00:18:48 +0000

Recently, Tom Brady was in a car accident and all of New England held their breath. It turned out he was fine, but his car was pretty badly banged up. It turns out the $97K Audi S8, was a loaner vehicle registered to a non-profit, Best Buddies, on whose board Tom Brady sits. Is this an issue? Joanna Weiss in the Globe thinks it might be.

Audi is supporting Best Buddies by giving them loaner cars. Presumably, Audi wouldn't be replacing these cars with a check. Presumably, Best Buddies can't really use 12 $100K cars at once and lets their board members drive the left overs...

I just can't get fired up about this. Audi wanted to support an org by giving them cars. The org wants the support of the corporation and takes the cars. The board member drives one of these cars. Maybe it's not pure, but neither is it especially unethical. What do you think?

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Peyton Manning’s Interception Quote

aaron cohen — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:00:52 +0000

Via Kenny, Jorge Arangure's amazing Twitter update:

Hey I'm sure when Peyton Manning was growing up he always wanted to throw the TD pass that gave the Saints a Super Bowl win. Now he has.

Which lead to the return of the Manning Face. Not seen in these parts for several years.

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Trick Football Plays

aaron cohen — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 20:15:41 +0000

I love trick football plays. Always have.

Via DK.

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Bill Belichick Was Right

aaron cohen — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:32:19 +0000

Photo by Flickr user Keith Allison People in Boston have been spoiled by our sports teams this decade. The Red Sox have won 2 World Series, the Patriots have been dominant since 2001, and even the Celtics got involved in the world beating. The Patriots and the Red Sox have been so good that the phrases, "In Bill We Trust" and "In Theo We Trust" have been tossed around unironically regarding Bill Belichick and Theo Epstein of the Pats and Sox respectively.

Last Sunday, the Patriots beat the hell out of Peyton Manning and the Colts for about 50 minutes, up by 2 scores much of the game. And then with a little over 2 minutes left, they found themselves on the Colts' 28 yard-line on 4th down up by 6 points. Football teams punt here. Always. But Belichick sent the offense out to get the 2 yards and win the game. It's unclear if he was trying to send a message, or if he just wanted to keep the ball out of Manning's hands. In any case, this paragraph of cliches is over, the Pats didn't get the first down, the Colts scored and won the game.

Bill Belichick was right. I would have been OK with him punting, but I'm more than OK with him going for it, whatever the reason and the stats agree.

Statistically, the better decision would be to go for it, and by a good amount. However, these numbers are baselines for the league as a whole. You'd have to expect the Colts had a better than a 30% chance of scoring from their 34, and an accordingly higher chance to score from the Pats' 28. But any adjustment in their likelihood of scoring from either field position increases the advantage of going for it. You can play with the numbers any way you like, but it's pretty hard to come up with a realistic combination of numbers that make punting the better option. At best, you could make it a wash.

Here's a coach who never punts, ever. He also doesn't have his team return punts or kick off deep. The last time he punted was in 2007 when he was trying to be a good sport to a team he was destroying.

Phil Simms thinks that if Belichick had been able to challenge the call, he would have gotten a more favorable spot and gotten the first down.

Via a football newsletter Gareth gets (link unavailable):

Kevin Eikenberry, leader of Indianapolis-based consultant the Kevin Eikenberry Group: "Most of us in corporate leadership or executive leadership would profess that great leaders take risks, and yet, I'm guessing most of those same people who watched the game (especially in New England) feel like Belichick made a big mistake. We can't have it both ways. The longer I think about it from a leadership perspective, the more I applaud the coach's decision ... This is a real life example of a leader standing up and making a decision, one that in this case, didn't turn out in his favor."

Finally, Bill Simmons who has spent the entire year telling us Manning is unbeatable at night says Belichick should have punted. Aside from the fact that Simmons stopped killing Manning after he met him at the ESPY Awards a couple years ago, punting would have given Manning the opportunity to win the game. Getting the first down would have ended the game. I think I still like Bill Simmons, but I can't shake the feeling that what he's doing has gotten tired. I think he's going to move on ESPN eventually and do something new/big and that will be good for everyone. In this column, he's annoyingly playing homer contrarian, killing Belichick for a move he would have applauded had it worked, killing Belichick for a move he would have applauded a couple years ago, even if it hadn't.

In Bill We Trust

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Bill Belichick and Pat Tillman

aaron cohen — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 20:08:16 +0000

Before he was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan, former NFL player Pat Tillman received a letter from Bill Belichick.

In the last conversation Tillman had with Bauer, he told his agent, "You won't believe the letter I got from Bill Belichick.'' In the letter, Belichick praised him for his courage, his leadership, his willingness to set an example for people in this materialistic society, and he said it was an honor to be in the same league he'd been in.

While Tillman's death isn't any more significant than any other soldier killed in Iraq or Afghanistan, sacrificing his pro career to enlist did set him apart from other players. Also, this isn't the Belichick you usually hear about, huh?

Via BarstoolSports

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It’s All Lil’ Wayne’s Fault Redux

aaron cohen — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:11:38 +0000

ESPN just linked here referencing this story. Not sure why they didn't link to that story directly. If you'll click through, you'll see it's a Bill Simmons quotation. What comes around, goes around, in a good way.

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Friday Night Lights Season 3

aaron cohen — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:37:23 +0000

I'm very pleased that this show was picked up for 2 more seasons. Season 3 was better than season 2, it was less rushed and less forced. And now, think of the drama available now that loyalties have been split.

Bonus Linkb: Here's the Friday Night Lights creator, Peter Berg, on the BS Report with Bill Simmons.

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Michael Lewis on the Draft of Michael Oher

aaron cohen — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:35:26 +0000

Michael Lewis comments here and here in the Baltimore Sun on the draft of Michael Oher by the Balitmore Ravens in the first round. Lewis' book, The Blind Side, tells the tale of Oher who was earmarked at 16 to be a first round pick at offensive tackle. "It's so seldom that things work out the way they're supposed to work."

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Friday Night Lights Extended for 2 More Seasons!

aaron cohen — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:48:15 +0000

I missed this great news yesterday, but Friday Night Lights will be on for 2 more seasons. They're going to shoot the seasons together, which means even if next year's ratings go down, they'll have another season to show anyway. 13 episodes per season is a little light, but I like Friday Night Lights a lot and you should too.

The new pact covers the show's fourth and fifth seasons, which will consist of 13 segs apiece. It continues the innovative partnership between the Peacock and the satcaster that saved "FNL" from cancellation this season, the third for the Peabody-winning series.

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Matt Cassel Peed On In Tampa

aaron cohen — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 03:19:25 +0000

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Bruce Springsteen Sliding Across The Stage

aaron cohen — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:39:23 +0000

For many people (not from Pittsburgh), The Boss sliding across the stage crunching his nuts on a camera will be one of the things they remember most about Super Bowl 44. The face he makes while getting up, surprise crossed with delight crossed with 'I'm the Boss', is excellent. Click the photo for a gif of the action.

(Thanks, Brian and Seth)

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Comcast Confuses Porn With The Super Bowl

aaron cohen — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 15:15:27 +0000

Ooops! (Thanks, Agent M Loves Tacos)

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John Madden vs. Joe Morgan?

aaron cohen — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 21:07:16 +0000

Portfolio's Jeff Bercovici gets catty while commenting on a WSJ.com article on today's Super Bowl color commentator John Madden.

Of course, Futterman can't come right out and say that it's time Madden confined his ramblings to the day room of a retirement home, lest the AARP feast on his flesh, so I've included translations from the newspaperese into English.

Of course, Bercovici can't come right out and say that he hates John Madden because...well, I don't know why, but instead he does the, "Here's what Futterman said, and here's what I think it means," gimmick. As a media critic Bercovici is empowered to just go right after Madden himself so I don't know why he doesn't.

In my opinion, there's one announcer, above all else, that needs regular media flayings, and that's Joe Morgan. Go get him, Berovici.

If you had to choose one announcer to do a commentary of your life that only you could hear, would it be Madden or Morgan? I'd choose Madden because Morgan is so pompous in his incorrect opinions. Plus, Madden would make it seem like a comic book. BAM!

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Coach, Wrong Ball

aaron cohen — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 16:57:22 +0000

This is a dirty play. We're not talking about the NFL, college, or even high school, this looks like Pop Warner. And it requires the coach to be part of the ruse. What's interesting to me are the different versions of it on Youtube, and how there are a few kids who sell the play really well, and a few who start running too early. In this example, the QB stone sells it, which makes the play work better.

Adding: I meant to mention that just because it's dirty doesn't mean it's not funny as hell.

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Friday Night Lights – Where Are They Now?

aaron cohen — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 15:44:10 +0000

ESPN The Magazine has a maddeningly uninformative feature on the high school football team Buzz Bissinger followed around for a year to write his instant classic 'Friday Night Lights'. Unfortunately, they were only able to get information on 4 or 5 players and a couple coaches. If you're going to do a where are they now, you have to give me a little bit more than this. Thanks for nothing, ESPN The Magazine.

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Bill Simmons’ List of Best Sports Journalism

aaron cohen — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:11:02 +0000

Late last week, Bill Simmons put out another mailbag. One of the questions got him to riff on the best sports journalism he's ever read. I thought it would be a neat post to find all of those articles online (since everything is online these days). I spent about an hour and a half finding most of the articles, except for a few which were more tricky. Imagine my disappointment and frustration this morning when I saw (via kottke, obviously) that The Millions had done it faster, and, well, better. They found two I couldn't, but didn't link to the abstracts of the New Yorker articles. I should also mention how great the SI Vault is. They've taken 54 years of articles and put them online. For free. Any other magazine that's been publishing that long and does not have their archives online is living in the past.

Here's what I found, click over to The Millions to see what books they're in. (Note also, I starred the links that The Millions found that I couldn't, just to show how much more bad ass they are than me).

"Federer as Religious Experience" (Roger Federer) and "Tennis Player Michael Joyce's Professional Artistry as a Paradigm for Certain Stuff about Choice, Freedom, Discipline, Joy, Grotesquerie, and Human Completeness" (Michael Joyce) - David Foster Wallace (Plus "Consider the Lobster" as mentioned by the reader in the mailbag.

"Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu" (Ted Williams) - John Updike

(Abstract only) "Down the Drain" (Steve Blass) - Roger Angell (Not sure if this is the 'Gone for Good' mentioned in Simmons' post, but both are about Steve Blass.) Still looking for full text.

"What Do You Think of Ted Williams Now?" (Ted Williams) - Richard Ben Cramer*

"Lawdy, Lawdy, He's Great" (Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali) - Mark Kram

"The Silent Season of a Hero" (Joe Dimaggio) - Gay Talese*

"Ego" (Muhammad Ali) - Norman Mailer. From March, 1971 Life Magazine. Still looking for full text.

"Pure Heart" (Secretariat) - William Nack

"The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved" (The Kentucky Derby) - Hunter S. Thompson

"Medora Goes to the Game" (Going to a ballgame with daughter) - George Plimpton

"Agincourt and After" (Look back at 1975 baseball season) - Roger Angell. Still looking for full text.

"Distance" (Bob Gibson) - Roger Angell. Still looking for full text.

"Magic Act" (Magic Johnson) - Charlie Pierce. From GQ, still looking for full text.

"Holy Ground" (Agusta National) - Wright Thompson

"Center Court" - (Wimbeldon) - John McPhee. Still searching for full text.

"Raised By Women To Conquer Men" (Jimmy Connors) - Frank DeFord

"The Loser" (Floyd Patterson) - Gay Talese

"A Voice Crying In The Wildernesst" (Rick Barry) - Tony Kornheiser

"Jordan’s Moment" (Michael Jordan) - David Halberstam. The Millions linked to a different piece, but I think this is it.

"The Mourning Anchor" (Bryant Gumble) - Rick Reilly

"Ali and His Entourage" (Muhammad Ali) - Gary Smith

"As Time Runs Out" (Jim Valvano) - Gary Smith

And here's my favorite: "A Name on the Wall" (Bob Kalsu) - William Knack

Anybody else have any nominations?

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