Saturday, July 26, 2008

Snark break

Competing for the stupid and ugly award, in case one is ever created ...

Brett Favre to the J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets? Far be it to suggest someone from Mississippi would be impressed by the fans' ability to spell the team name.

People still drive directly to a sports event in Toronto? Apparently the turnip truck wasn't taking passengers.

More great headlines that can never be written: "Six synonyms for carpetbaggers" would have worked perfectly for the story about Oklahoma City patenting possible names for Seattle's NBA team.

Deadspin had a post yesterday about a football offence that doesn't require any offensive linemen. It's lot like how the Tampa Bay Lightning are planning to play this season without any defencemen. (Mike Smith, the gentleman goalie from Verona, is in for a long year.)

(Seriously, though, this offence is intriguing ... of course, remember when Texas Tech coach Mike Leach, one of college football's big X-and-Os gurus, was profiled in the New York Times by none other than Michael Lewis ... you made a point to clear some time to watch Texas Tech play in the Cotton Bowl on New Year's Day -- and they scored 10 flippin' points.)
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , ,

4 comments:

Duane Rollins said...

Didn't Queen's already try that no o-line offense?

July 26, 2008 10:26 PM
Dennis Prouse said...

I loved that Michael Lewis feature on Leach - it singlehandedly made me into a Texas Tech fan. I love iconoclasts in football, guys who prove that you don't always have to run off tackle all day and treat your players like dogs in order to be successful.

To me, the most important coach in NFL history was not Vince Lombardi, but Bill Walsh. Lombardi just took the game as it was currently being played, and had his guys do it incredibly well. Walsh changed the way the game was played, and proved that you don't have to be two dimensional Marine Drill Sargeant. I hope Leach gets his shot in the NFL or at a top shelf NCAA school, if that's what he wants.

July 26, 2008 10:43 PM
sager said...

Glad you liked it, Dennis ... I was toward the end of my stint at the Simcoe Reformer when that article appeared in late 2005. Our other sports guy, Jeff Dertinger, and myself, read that article with a lot of relish, since we're both huge football nuts.

So New Year's Day rolls around and Texas Tech was playing Alabama in the Cotton Bowl ... I remember making a point to watch some of the game, and they were held to 10 points. What a downer. I seem to remember being amused about it, in a dark-comedy kind of way.

Texas Tech has a sophomore wideout, Michael Crabtree, who's getting some Heisman buzz.

(Am I ever grateful that our boss at the Reformer, Kim Novak, made sure the newsroom received the Sunday N.Y. Times.)

July 27, 2008 12:33 AM
sager said...

On Walsh vs. Lombardi ... I'm an odd one on the Greatest Coach and Greatest QB debate ... most people go for the Packers dynasty (Lombardi) for the coach and the 49ers (Joe Montana) in the best QB argument.

I'm the other way around -- Bill Walsh and Bart Starr.

I would hazard a guess most sports fans would go with Lombardi as Greatest Coach over Walsh, Tom Landry, Don Shula and Coach Hoodie. My argument is for Walsh -- three Super Bowl titles in a 28-team league trumps Lombardi winning five NFL titles in a 12- to 16-team league.

As for Starr, check out the TD-to-INT ratios and the yards-per-pass stats he put up in an era before turf, artificial domes, offensive linemen being allowed to use their hands and defensive backs being allowed to bump receivers all over the field.

(It's possible Peyton Manning is the best QB who ever played. The final accounting isn't in yet.)

July 27, 2008 1:15 AM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)