When the NFL first announced that it was going to host an Oscars-like awards ceremony for the league’s season awards, my first thought was, “Great news for people who like the ESPYs but have ADHD.” But Alec Baldwin was hosting and I like football, so I figured I’d at least be able to watch it for the sake of making fun of it. Yet as I watched it Sunday morning on my DVR, I couldn’t help but admit to my dog that it wasn’t terrible.

The NFL Honors were far from perfect, though, and if they’re going to make this event a tradition, league officials are going to need to make a few tweaks to the overall process. For starters, as much as I love Baldwin, he didn’t exactly hit home runs with his jokes. I mean, I laughed, but they showed more blank faces in the audience, and I really don’t know if Clay Matthews appreciated being called Madonna.

As for the actual award process, I know that they need to make it seem like each category was so close and it was so difficult and arduous to determine which players were going to win, but we’re not stupid. Offensive Rookie of the Year couldn’t have been more obvious, so clearly we didn’t need two minutes of intro footage that included Mark Ingram and Julio Jones. If anything, it felt like some guys were being teased.

Most of the awards were dead on – I only really disagreed with one – so we can debate them and some of the evening’s finer moments after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

Denver Broncos quarterback and evangelical beefcake Tim Tebow was a guest on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, as Fallon aired his show from Indianapolis this week with a Super Bowl XLVI theme. It was inevitable that Fallon would ask him what he thought of his recent “Tebowie” character, which, of course, was a hilarious combination of David Bowie and Tim Tebow that Fallon used to sing a new version of Bowie’s “Space Oddity.” Last night, Tebow played along for humor’s sake and got a nice dig in on Fallon by questioning his pitch on the song. At least I think that’s what he said, because the crowd wouldn’t shut up.

Seriously, it sounded like Tebow was performing on Def Comedy Jam, but even more remarkable was the zeal with which Fallon asked his questions. I’m surprised he didn’t conduct the interview while sitting on his lap and brushing his hair. But the ridiculous love for Tebow aside, I couldn’t help but giggle with delight when Fallon asked Tebow to sign a Broncos jersey and then fire it into the crowd with a t-shirt gun. Somebody had to have stopped and said, “Hey, this might cause a riot.” And then everyone laughed.

And after the Tebow video I’ve included the best of Fallon’s “Late Night at the Super Bowl” because I don’t stay up that late and watch most of his stuff online when I wake up in the morning and take my Ovaltine. And please do yourself a favor and watch the Real Housewives of Late Night in Indianapolis. Dallas Clark in drag. It’s Emmy material.

Read the rest of this entry »

Just like the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Pro Bowl had to tarp sections to avoid a blackout.

The 2012 Pro Bowl took place yesterday, in case you were glued to TNT’s broadcast of the Celebrity Drinking Contest annual SAG Awards, and it was basically everything you would expect, as the AFC defeated the NFC 59-41. The defenses played down, allowing the offensive players to do their things, and that’s why Philip Rivers only had one interception, instead of the standard 7. But I also commend rookie Can Newton for selflessly getting the defense involved by throwing 3 picks as well.

The star of the game, though, was Miami Dolphins wide receiver Brandon Marshall, who had 6 receptions for 176 yards and a Pro Bowl record 4 touchdowns, as he scored once in each quarter. Of course, the controversial wide receiver’s moment in the figurative sun didn’t last long as he eventually opened his mouth.

“Since Jay Cutler I’ve had a few different quarterbacks and being in the Pro Bowl you have these elite quarterbacks and it’s all them,” he said. “They put [the ball] in the right spots and make it easy for me to make the catch. It’s all the quarterbacks.” (Via the Miami Herald)

While he’s right – in the last two seasons, he’s had four QBs in Matt Moore, Chad Henne, Chad Pennington and Tyler Thigpen – some have misconstrued Marshall’s words as an attack on Moore. That would be true if the Dolphins hadn’t already made it clear that they’re looking to upgrade at QB. But I digress. At least the Pro Bowl gave us something to talk about.

In the meantime, people will continue to question the need for the Pro Bowl, and those people need to shush. The Pro Bowl is great for what it is – a chance for guys who get their asses kicked for 18 weeks to f*ck around and have some fun. The NFL just needs to move it back to after the Super Bowl so the players from the eventual championship team can attend and remind all of the other players how much worse they are. That’s the true NFL spirit.

Now enjoy some of the game’s best moments before everyone goes back to airing David Tyree’s catch over and over for the next 6 days.

Read the rest of this entry »

- Follow us on Twitter @withleather
- Follow me personally @MrBrandonStroud and Burnsy @MayorBurnsy
- Like us on Facebook.

Links

This Week Tom Brady Will Prove That He’s A Horrible Person - Brady should respond to the media’s treatment of Drew Brees by wearing a Saints jersey and throwing every time he touches the ball, whether they’re up by 200 or not. [Smoking Section]

The First Ever KSK Fantasy Football Awards - The award for Worst Fantasy Football Player In History goes to me for my piss-rank performance in our Draftstreet promotions this season. Man, and to think I once won a Yahoo league without ever updating it. [Kissing Suzy Kolber]

Video: Robert Griffin III’s Incredible TD Run - I watched this from the ellipticals at the gym LIKE A BOSS. Then I realized if I was a boss, I’d just be using the treadmills. Also, I wouldn’t be holding my iPod when I ran. [Yardbarker]

2011: The Year of the UFC Title Curse - It just goes to show you, true MMA success isn’t in winning championships, it’s in entertaining EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU! (that is MMA, right) [Cage Potato]

Don Cherry’s Piano Desk - So is Don Cherry trying to look like Tyler Perry’s Mr. Brown, or is that just a coincidence? [Buzzfeed]

Prisoner Says Jamie Foxx Is A Skank Robbers Robber - “Madea gets kidnapped by a white guy and must sincerely plead for her life” is the most amazing, psychotic idea for a movie ever. Prisons would be even better if they were underground. [Film Drunk]

5 Reasons Firefly Was Lucky To Get Canceled - Just think of it like a British show. Or like ‘Cowboy Bebop’, which was much better and basically the same thing. [Gamma Squad]

These Kids Are Terrible - Watching kids be unable to get through the Legends Of The Hidden Temple temple without collapsing and sh*tting themselves is stressful. I used to love how hard the Hidden Temple questions were. GEORGE WASHINGTON WAS THE FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. WHO WAS THE FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, GEORGE WASHINGTON OR HAM SANDWICH and the kids would just STAND THERE. [Warming Glow]

Zooey Deschanel And Joseph Gordon-Levitt Would Like To Hear About Your New Years Eve Plans - Masturbating to Zooey Deschanel, and probably Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Just kidding, nobody likes Zooey Deschanel anymore! [UPROXX]

5 Beauty Lessons We Learned This Year From Amanda Seyfried - I hope “get your boobs out, go wrist-deep on Julianne Moore” is on the list. [Glamour Beauty]

Heading into Monday night’s matchup with the Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees needed 305 passing yards to break Dan Marino’s single season passing record of 5,084 yards set back in 1984. Brees threw for 307 yards and now stands alone – for now, as Tom Brady is sniffing his tail – as the greatest single-season passer of all-time. But the difference between 1984 and 2011 is that now we love to take a huge dump all over a guy’s big moment.

Doing most of the dumping after the Saints’ 45-16 drubbing of the Falcons were the Falcons defensive players, who claim that Brees did the birds dirty by running up the score to get his record. You know, on Monday Night Football, in the Superdome, against the Saints’ bitter rivals, and on the biggest stage of their regular season. What a dick, right? That’s the way the sports media sees it, too, starting with CBS Sports’ Pete Prisco, who thinks Brees’ record will forever be tainted.

The way I see it, what should have been a truly special moment, something that should have happened in the context of the game, and made it tainted with questions.

It won’t overshadow what truly is a special record for one of the greatest passers of this generation, even ever, but it does take some of the gloss off of it.

At first I thought this was just the typical CBS Sports blogger trying to embrace the Skip Bayless contrarian role like Gregg Doyel has almost seemingly mastered, but then I searched a little more and discovered that the feeling is shared by others. Dump away, critics.

Read the rest of this entry »

Hank Williams Jr. must be rolling over in his grave.

By way of Rant Sports and anyone else who watches actual sports instead of pro wrestling on Monday nights comes the latest in a string of “let’s get people Bocephus might hate to do his job” intro videos, this one spotlighting Sole Surviving Golden Girl and temporary-internet-sensation-turned-person-we’re-tired-of-seeing-in-commercials Betty White.

Betty’s entire schtick these days is that she is Very Old, and the open brings that in spades — on-field collisions are compared to old folks driving, a brief discussion on the elderly Tebowing is had and at one point she calls Matt Ryan “hot”. That’s the best one, because seriously, only someone on the ass-end of 80 would say that. Also, Drew Brees set a passing record, but defenses in 2011′s NFL are forced to play like Snickers commercial Betty White so we’re gonna cover it in asterisks and move forward remembering this clip as the most important thing to occur.

You can check out the video (and a better one) after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »