As Buffalo Bills interim coach Perry Fewell gets his commandments in order, the search for the next poor bastard head man is on, and one of the names being tossed about is that of Montreal Alouettes head coach Marc Trestman. Yep, the Bills are looking at the CFL for potentially picking their next head coach.
Trestman, 53 - who has served on past NFL coaching staffs for the Cleveland Browns, San Francisco 49ers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Oakland Raiders, Arizona Cardinals, Minnesota Vikings, Detroit Lions and Miami Dolphins - led Montreal to the Grey Cup final in his rookie CFL season a year ago. –Globe and Mail.
Trestman also lead the Als to a CFL-best 15-3 record this season; they’ll play in their conference final on Sunday. But even if Trestman was considering the job, there’s no guarantee that Montreal would let him go. Montreal GM Jim Popp told The Canadian Press, “[B]ottom line, he’s under contract to our team.” Oh well, there’s always af2.
Iraqi prisoners in an American military camp are having a bit of fun with the soldiers running the joint. That’s because those soldiers are actually from the Wisconsin National Guard, and therefore diehard Packers fans.
“They know Favre by name,” said First Lieutenant Tim Boehnen, who is from New Richmond, Wis.
“One of the big words they know now is shenanigan. They’ll constantly talk about ‘Favre shenanigans,’ ‘He’s so good for the Vikings,’ and ‘The Packers have got to really feel bad about that one.’”
Even if it is just good-natured bit of prisoner-to-guy-holding-a-machine-gun ribbing, it’s nothing that a quick car battery to the testicles won’t fix. I can just see Aaron Rodgers now, standing over a pile of naked bodies, smoking a cigarette while pointing the double six-shooters. Actually, I was talking about the Packers’ season. But I like the way you’re thinking. –620 WTMJ, via KSK.
Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams picked up the slack left from injured teammate Ronnie Brown, and then some. Williams finished the day with 119 yards rushing and 3 TDs as the Dolphins rolled passed the Carolina Panthers, 24-17. Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme had an off-night, only throwing one pick.
Dolphins coach Tony Sparano hinted his team might abandon the wildcat without Brown, who was placed on injured reserve Wednesday. Miami didn’t use the formation until the second quarter. It coincided with the Dolphins’ first touchdown drive—Chad Henne’s 14-yard touchdown pass to Williams, who wrestled away from linebacker Na’il Diggs. –Y! Sports.
Maybe this is the ether talking, but these Thursday night games seem to be boring as all hell, and it’s obvious to see why–coming back from a Sunday game and then ratcheting oneself up to play again four nights later is difficult. There’s only so much a coaching staff and a team can do to prepare in that amount of time. But the league seems happy to air them anyway, and with the matchups being as woeful as they are, the networks don’t seem to be complaining as much as I am.
The first thing I thought when I saw this was, “Hey, shouldn’t the bride be wearing a white jersey?” And then I thought, “Well, no. She should actually be wearing an entire wedding dress.” But I don’t know if this was just a reception thing or if they went through a whole wedding like this. And what’s up with that Ray Lewis dance? I wonder if he watched somebody stab his wife after the reception and then rode off in the limo by himself. That’s funny unless it’s exactly what happened. –Casey Carter, via Last Angry Fan.
I don’t think people get bent out of shape simply from a professional athlete complaining about life to the media. Actually, lots of fans out there can appreciate the humanity of it all, provided that the athlete in question is qualified to speak for his team. But what really chaps my ass is when a guy runs his mouth during the week and then goes out to play and totally lays an egg. And I mean total failure without any sort of composure at all. After they talk the talk, we expect athletes to walk the walk.
And this is where Dallas Cowboys wideout Roy Williams failed. After complaining to the media about how Tony Romo throws an accurate ball to everyone but him ["Mom! How come Jason has more ice cream than I do?!"] he went out against Green Bay only to fumble a long catch downfield after dropping a touchdown pass in the endzone. That performance arguably cost the Cowboys the game against the Packers, and it also drew the ire of the Bayou Beast, Terry Bradshaw.
“Dallas lost that game when Roy Williams dropped that pass and then fumbled, too,” said Bradshaw, a cohose of FOX’s NFL Sunday show. “He may have finished with 100 yards receiving, but he’s certainly not worth two first-round picks and all that money Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is paying him. He’s not proving anything.” –Dallas Morning News, via FanNation.
Williams is hardly alone in his mouth writing checks that his body can’t cash. A day after telling everyone how great a player he could be in the NFL, LeBron James sat out the entire most of the second half of his game against the Washington Wizards. James, who said he banged his wrist on the rim during a dunk, watched his Cavs squander a 17-point first-half lead to lose, 108-91. One wonders how valuable a guy like that would be to an NFL team.
Nobody has any problem with a guy that can put his money where his mouth is. But when he runs his mouth in front of the media and then can’t bring his A-game in front of the fans, we’re the ones that end up getting shortchanged.
UPDATE: When asked about James, ESPN reports that Browns coach Eric Mangini said, “I think he should come on down.” Word.
NBA superstar LeBron James was asked about the 1-7 Cleveland Browns last night, and technically speaking, they’re his hometown team. But James wasn’t necessarily upset upset about Eric Mangini or the direction of the team. He just wishes that he could help.
“If I put all my time and commitment into it, if I dedicated myself to the game of football, I could be really good,” the Cavaliers superstar said before facing the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night. “No matter what team I was on.” –NBC Sports.
Whatever. There’s nothing worse than That Guy who talks about how great he’d be “if I really put my mind to it,” even if that guy really was one of the best basketball players in the world. If James really wanted to help, he could buy a majority share of the team and then fire Eric Mangini. And after seeing the way that Mangini runs out some of his own players, he might be content to just take five steps in the lane and complaining about not getting calls. Ah, basketball…Also.
