Daily Somehow Related to Sports Video! (6/29/2008)

So I'm cooling off after a nice day in the sun (and some rain) watching Nick at Night for the first time in probably a decade when I happen to come across a Billy Blanks Jr. video tape.

Yes.

A) Billy Blanks Junior

B) Video Tape

I couldn't stop laughing. The son of Billy Blanks, seven time world karate champion and 7th degree blackbelt followed in his father's footsteps. But not like you or I would expect (or as Blanks Sr. would hope), but by also becoming a fitness guru.

Not just any fitness guru, but releasing videos of a tae bo-esque workout, with the concept being combination karoke and cardio workouts

I'll let the youtube promo speak for itself. Needless to say, the hideous blaring of "You are Beautiful," the montage shot of the woman in pink and the 9 year old dancing all rate highly on the "We're fucking Serious" scale

Seriously...Cardioke?

R.I.P. UGA VI

Saturday the SEC got a little lonelier, as it lost one of its most famous faces. Uga VI the mascot for the Georgia Bulldogs passed away. Uga was 9 years old and passed due to heart failure. He will be greatly missed. Uga will be buried inside the Southwest corner of the Bulldogs stadium.

NFL Withdrawal Relief: The 1995 Season

As much as I’d love to partake in a journey of words about the present state of the NFL and the many story lines it has presented, I have discovered that my addicted appetite to football is better satiated in looking back at previous NFL seasons. I know I’m weird and not typically what you would call a normal person, but hopefully the majority of people who love football will feel the same way.

Instead of bitching and complaining about how there’s X amount of days until football starts, let us go on a journey of the past. I guarantee you’ve forgotten a lot of the stuff that is to be covered here and that’s okay. But to better understand the present, we must look into the past. And in this case, the past is facking awesome.

First up: The random year of 1995.

The year was 1995 and the Jacksonville Jaguars and Carolina Panthers were prepping for their inaugural seasons in the NFL. A new creation, the DVD was announced. And a little website called eBay was just founded. Suffice it to say, many things happened in the magical year of 1995. But since we’re here to talk about football, we’ll try and just focus on that.

In addition to the two new expansion teams, the two Los Angeles teams moved to other cities. The Rams were now based out of St. Louis and the Raiders out of Oakland. Things were a changing in the NFL and it wasn’t just in regards to the teams. A few major rule changes also occurred before the 1995 season. One was that the quarterback was now able to utilize a small device in his helmet to communicate with his sideline. Overweight, slow quarterbacks everywhere rejoiced.

The league was coming off a 1994 Super Bowl in which the San Francisco 49ers easily handled the Cinderella San Diego Chargers 49-26. The 49ers win further solidified the belief that the AFC was inferior to the NFC. The NFC now had eleven straight wins in as many Super Bowls and proved year after year to have the superior teams. Going into 1995, the AFC had yet to win a Super Bowl in the 90’s decade. Jim Kelly may or may not have been partially to blame.

The reigning award winners of the 1994 season looked like a Hall of Fame induction list when looked at now. Steve Young the reigning MVP, Barry Sanders the reigning Offensive Player of the Year, Deion Sanders the reigning Defensive Player of the Year. And a promising, young running back named Marshall Faulk was coming off a respectable year in which he was named Offensive Rookie of the Year. Wow, this is making me feel old.

The road to Super Bowl 30 was not surprising for some teams while there were others, like the Detroit Lions who exceeded expectations and scrapped their way into the playoffs. Unfortunately for Lions fans, it would be the last hurrah for the next.. Well, they still haven’t had a similar season and the present year is 2008. So, it was the last great year for Lions fans. The year 1995. Thirteen years ago. Sorry Lions fans.

While the Jacksonville Jaguars had a typical expansion season, finishing 4-12 and last place in the AFC Central, the Carolina Panthers were a different story. Playing in an equally tough NFC West the Panthers finished a respectable 7-9 and finished tied for third place in the division.

The struggling New York Jets would go on to have the worst record in the league at 3-13, earning them the first pick in the 1996 NFL Draft (which turned out to be superstar/future pre-game show All Star Keyshawn Johnson). The Kansas City Chiefs would go on to have the league’s best record, finishing 13-3. They’re record did not translate into postseason success however and they lost their first divisional playoff game to the Indianapolis Colts, 10-7.

The 1995 season also turned out to be the year that Art Moddell decided to move the Browns to Baltimore in what started a firestorm of debate across the world of the NFL. Many were all for it, while others were passionately against it. It was eventually of no matter, the Browns would again return to the NFL fold some years later. Luckily for us!

Like every year, 1995 held host to some thrilling divisional and wild card races. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, perennial losers year after year made a strong run for a playoff bid, led by the strong play of running back Eric Rhett. They would fall short however and finish the season 7-9.

The AFC West also saw heated competition, with no one in the division going under .500. The AFC East on the other hand saw three of it’s teams make the post-season, and the AFC Central saw just one team (the Pittsburgh Steelers) gaining a bid to the playoffs.

The NFC saw a bit more parity, with two teams from each division making the playoffs. This was due to the fact that although the NFC was the stronger of the two conferences, there was a severe drop off from the elite NFC teams and everyone else who was competing. The six teams that made the playoffs in the NFC, save for the Detroit Lions, were perennial contenders year in and year out.

The 1995 Wild Card round failed to feature even one competitive game. The Bills defeated their division rival Dolphins 37-22 and the Colts defeated the reigning Super Bowl runners-up Chargers 35-20 to round off the AFC. The Eagles beat the Cinderella Lions 58-37 in what was one of the highest scoring playoff games of all time. The Packers easily handled the Falcons 37-20 and were the last team to sneak into the divisional playoff round.

The divisional round had similar blowouts but managed to produce some close contests. The best of which being the Colts-Chiefs game, which was a defensive struggle and ended with the Colts advancing to the conference championships with a 10-7 victory. Unfortunately, the Chiefs best regular season record did not translate to postseason success. Weird. In another close game, the Packers defeated the defending Super Bowl Champion 49ers 27-17. The Cowboys spanked the Eagles 30-11 and the Steelers easily handled the Bills 40-21.

The conference championship games, unlike many of the other playoff games, would not fail to disappoint. The Steelers barely handled the Colts in a thrilling 20-16 win whereas the Cowboys pulled away late 38-27 to defeat the Packers. Brett Favre was still a year away from being a champion.

Super Bowl XXX would prove to be an uncompetitive game, completely opposite of what the final score would indicate. The Cowboys were the victors 27-17 in what would be the first of many 1990’s Super Bowl wins for the franchise.

If you didn’t know, than now you know. Stay tuned for other random NFL season years!

Some 1995 Snippets:

MVP: Brett Favre
Coach of the Year: Ray Rhodes
Offensive Rookie of the Year: Curtis Martin
Defensive Rookie of the Year: Hugh Douglas

Sunday Morning Quarterback; Overpaid Rookies

I am starting a new series, called...Well, just look at the title "Sunday Morning Quarterback". Yes, we can talk NFL Football even during the offseason. Not much going on in the NFL right now, but training camps open in about a month! Is that exciting or what??

The biggest topic up for debate today is Commissioner Roger Goodell's reaction to overpaid rookies. I brought this up on Armchairgm.com around the time of the 2007 NFL draft. I believe I said something like "Brady Quinn is going to be overpaid, and end up being a draft bust", and this was before he fell down to the 22nd overall pick by the Cleveland Browns.

The topic was brought back up after this year's draft when first overall pick, Jake Long (drafted by Miami) signed a five-year contract worth $57.75 million. He signed the contract on April 22nd, which was BEFORE the draft even took place in New York City. What happens if Long gets in some kind of accident before the draft even takes place?! The Dolphins would be screwed then.

Goodell's reaction to the situation? Well, he started out by saying the pay roll for rookies is 'ridiculous', and then had this to say about it: "There's something wrong about the system, the money should go to people who perform. He doesn't have to play a down in the NFL and he already has his money. Now, with the economics where they are, the consequences if you don't evaluate that player, you can lose a significant amount of money." He then went on to say: "And that money is not going to players that are performing. It's going to a player that never makes it in the NFL. And I think that's ridiculous."

I think every NFL fan out there can agree with Goodell's statement. Rookies obviously shouldn't be paid millions of bucks before they even step foot out on the field, and prove themselves. My apologies to Ryan Leaf, but I'm gonna have to use you as an example. I mean, god knows what could happen. We may very well get another Ryan Leaf. Heck, you could even end up drafting a Tim Couch, Spergon Wynn, or Eric Crouch. Not a single NFL team wants that. So, in order to fix this, just don't give these guys a long-term, big money contract until they prove themselves.

My solution: A rather simple one. Don't sign them to long-term contracts. The problem is that that could cause players to holdout for more money. I guess we should just let Roger work his magic...

No Hits? No Problem!

File this under; "yeah, I don't get it either." Apparently the Battle of LA was one hell of a barnburner with a combined 5 hits. But the best part of the whole scenario was, the Dodgers had none of 'em...but they still got the win.

It all stems from an error on the nub of a hit by Matt Kemp, who subsequently stole second and arrived at third on a throwing error by the catcher. Add in Blake Dewitt's sacrifice fly and we've got a run.

Sadly for Jered Weaver he was pulled in the 6th in favor of a pinch hitter and worse yet, since the Dodgers had the lead (at home) going into the bottom of the 9th, the Angels can't score this as a no-no.

If you're a Dodgers fan right now, I guess you can call this one Lemonade

Dutton Pulls off Close Upset at Utah

It may not be the NFL, but don't underestimate the excitement of the Arena Football Playoffs. Earlier today John Dutton and his fifth seeded Colorado Crush (owned by Denver's own J0hn Elway) upset the fourth seeded Utah Blaze. Both teams, unfortunately, finished the season 6-10 though. Yes, yes, I know it's kinda lame that a 6-10 made it to the playoffs, but the game proved to be an exciting one.

Danny White's Utah Blaze were on a win streak of four games coming into today, and were looking for their first ever playoff win (0-2 in playoffs). Keep in mind that the Blaze started out the season 0-9, and then went on a route to win six of the final seven regular season games. If this was the NFL neither team would be anywhere close to the playoffs. But, it's not, is it?? This is a whole different league. A league in which twelve of the seventeen, yes seventeen teams make the playoffs. This means that the Los Angeles Avengers, Kansas City Brigade, Columbus Destroyers (the Arena League's 2007 runner-up), Tampa Bay Storm, and the New Orleans Voodoo were the five left out of the second season.

Joe Germaine, who should've been named to the All-Arena first team (instead it was Philly's Matt D'Orazio), led his Blaze to a quick 14-0 lead in the first quarter. But, Dutton is a gamer, and he lead the Crush on a scoring drive which ended with about two minutes to go in the opening quarter. In the second quarter, the Crush outscored the Blaze 14-10, and with seconds to go until the half, made it a three-point game on a two-yard pass to WR Wendall Williams. It was only Willams' third game with Colorado.

Germaine--who finished the game with 252 yards through the air, 6 TD passes, and 1 INT--cooled off in the second half. The last two quaters were evenly-matched, and it ended up being a back-and-forth half. The B.M.W (Boone, McKelvey, Whittaker) combination for Utah combined for 22 of Utah's 23 pass attempts, and all six of their TD's. Utah's three second-half TD's were just not enough to stop Colorado from advancing.

Two costly sacks on Germaine had the Colorado bench pumped, and actually one of the commentators, former NFL DE Marcellus Wiley, was real close to throwing his headphones aside, and jumping into action.

Germaine was rattled, and the two late sacks, and 1 INT, forced by a the Colorado D-line, was the final straw. After one last Utah touchdown with :36 to go, Utah failed to recover the onside kick, and the game was over.

My worry for Colorado's Divisional matchup (whoever that may be), is that their kicker Deric Yaussi, missed two key kicks, and was close to missing a few of his extra point attempts (though they all ended up going in). In the playoffs you can't have your kicker going 0 for 2 on kicks, there's just no excuse. Especially in an arena with no wind/weather factor. Yaussi, and actually the Blaze's kicker, Steve Videtich, looked pretty shaky. Videtich was 1 for 2 on field goal attempts, and missed a key extra point attempt. That's FOUR points right there.

One of the most amusing parts of the game was when, on a Colorado kickoff, Yaussi was running downfield looking to block someone, and got light the fuck up by a Utah defender. He jumped back up and got in his face. That was a horrible decision. Whoever heard of a kicker doing that!? I thought it was pretty funny. That was a rookie mistake...

Daily Somehow Related to Sports Video! (6/28/08)

I just finished a sweaty game of wiffle ball. This video is actually pretty classic but if I could come up with more than one pitch on par with this guy, I'd be set (All I've got is a devastating sinker)



Personally, I like the behind the plate camera action (mostly at the end!). No way the fat guy in the cage could hit the riser.

CoreStates/First Union/Wachovia/The Spectrum Set to be Demolished in the Coming Year

Since the Flyers and 76ers move to the "FU" Center in 1996, the old place hasn't quite been the same, but former Calder Cup Champion Philadelphia Phantoms and the Philadelphia Kixx (whatever they play?) have made the Spectrum their home for the last few years. As announced in January, that trend won't continue, as Spectrum owner, Comcast-Spectator, will have the building demolished in order to construct a new sports complex in its place.

The sports complex on Broad Street now consists of the Wachovia Center (1996), Lincoln Financial Field (2003), Citizens Bank Ballpark (2004) and the elder statesman, The Spectrum, which opened in 1967. It is unknown what will replace the Spectrum's arena capabilities (or where the teams who use it will go) but its current land will go towards Comcast's "Philly Live" project, consisting of shops, restaurants and a hotel directly where the old barn sits now.

While the loss of such a large part of sports history in Philadelphia is slightly saddening, its nothing new, as the turnaround on Broad Street buildings happens roughly every couple decades (faster if it really sucks...see Veterans Stadium).

So for now, we'll prepare our goodbyes... for the best damn place to see a WWF show.