Axis of Evil

Bill Parcells meeting with Drew Rosenhaus? Agent for Terrell Owens?

Yeah, getting Owens would be a tremendous victory for Dallas. Too bad they don't have a quarterback to throw him the ball...

Besides, everyone knows that it'll be 1 year (tops) before Owens wears out his welcome and needs to be shipped elsewhere. How long is it before he stops getting "another chance"?

They can take our WUSA, but they'll never take...

I was saddened when the WUSA collapsed prior to the 2003 World Cup. I had followed the league since it began and went to my share of Washington Freedom games. I encountered a pair of Freedom players at an old job a month or two before their first ever game. They were surprised that I knew who they were and encouraged me to come out to the stadium. Deep Cover and I went to RFD for the watching party for the Founders Cup in 2002 where the Freedom became the last champions of the WUSA.

For the past 2½ years, the only womens' soccer to be found has been the W-League (semi-pro). The games aren't televised (save the playoffs on Fox Soccer Channel), and the closest team to here is the Northern Virginia Majestics, who play their games in Woodbridge. Now comes word from the W-League that the Freedom are returning. Washington Freedom SC will begin play this spring as an "associate member" of the W-League. According to the article, the team is mostly intact and will play 14 games, calling the Soccerplex in Germantown, MD their home. Anyone who thinks I'm not going to some games is crazy... especially if Casey Zimny and Sarah Kate Noftsinger are still around...

9 8

Kenny Smith is a fraud.

Did you watch the slam dunk contest at NBA All Star weekend? I was out on Saturday night so I recorded it. I'm glad I did.

As you may know, Andre Iguodala and Nate Robinson had a dunk-off to decide a winner after they were tied after the finals. The fact that they were tied is my point of contention. Andre Iguodala needed a 45 or better on his 2nd dunk to beat Robinson after Robinson's 2nd dunk, when he got a perfect score of 50 for leaping over Spud Webb. Iguodala came from the side, went between his legs, and dunked the ball with one hand after going under the rim. Kenny Smith, who had been cheering openly for Robinson, had a 9 in his hands but did not hold it above his head. 3 of the other 4 judges held up their scores (scores of 8, 9, and 9) and Moses Malone, another judge, had picked up a 10 and seemingly intended to hold it up. Kenny Smith looked down the line to his right (he was at the far left of the judges' table) and appeared to see the other scores before putting down the 9 and switching to an 8, giving Iguodala a score of 44 and sending him with Robinson to a dunk-off. Smith was the only judge excited, pounding his fists on the table and excitedly repeating "It's a dunk-off! It's a dunk-off!"

Iguodala lost to Robinson in the dunk-off, despite having perhaps the two best dunks of the night. Way to go, Kenny Smith.

MLS goes GQ?

Okay. Not really. But 7 of its players were part of a Maxim Magazine shoot (March). My thoughts are all over the place on this one:

The 7 participating players are as follows (L to R):

- Brian Ching, Houston 1836

- Eddie Johnson, Kansas City Wizards (he's been traded from FC Dallas but profile still has him in Dallas)

- Taylor Twellman, New England Revolution

- Landon Donovan, Los Angeles Galaxy

- Chris Albright, Los Angeles Galaxy

- Clint Dempsey, New England Revolution

- Pablo Mastroeni, Colorado Rapids

These players are called the game's "brightest stars" by MLSnet.com and I'm fine with that for 6 of the 7... My problem is the inclusion of Chris Albright here. Any learned DC United fan knows that Chris Albright was rubbish when he was here. In my opinion he still IS rubbish and doesn't deserve to wear an MLS shirt, much less be called one of its brightest stars and appear in a prominent magazine.

That said, I'm all for the league growing in the public's conscience. The World Cup is right around the corner and all 7 of the players included have suited up for the US National Team in the past and stand at the very least half a chance of being included in the side that travels to Germany (Bruce Arena, if you're reading, please leave behind Albright. There are at least 15 American defenders better than he is).

Furthermore, I'm a tad disappointed to not see any DC United players included here, but I also realize that there isn't really anyone on the roster for the black and red that is worthy. Granted, if Alecko Eskandarian had had the privilege of not being eradicated by the knee of Matt Reis, he might be in the picture for the US. I'm glad the decision was made (no matter who made it) to not include Freddy Adu in the group because "everyone knows who he is" or whatever reason might have been enough to include him anyway. Freddy has talent, but he's not a top of the line player in MLS right now. He's playing a man's game now, and if he keeps acting like a kid (though he may still be), he's not GOING to become a top of the line player.

All in all, this is a great thing for MLS here in the states. The more people that learn about the league and its players the better. Bring on the World Cup.

PS: At the All-Star game at RFK (2004?), I found myself in a section very close to an on-field situation where Adu was slowly carrying the ball towards Albright who was in a soft backpedal. Freddy looked hesitant to go at him and I jumped out of my seat and screamed, "Just beat him! He's Chris Albright!"... Raucous laughter from my section. I guess they think the same way.

Call me crazy...

...but isn't JJ's name spelled with 1 D?



He's on top. He's so great we don't even know how to spell his name.

Who am I?

I am a professional athlete.

When I was injured, I was unable to participate in the qualifying for my team's international competition.

I complained, petitioning to have an exemption made for me.

I was successful in getting myself onto the team, bumping someone more deserving of the spot from the team.

I flew halfway across the world to participate competitively, only to come up lame in practice.

I withdrew from the competition, tucking my tail between my legs and saying that not winning the competition at this level would be okay, even though I went so far out of my way to get here.

I will now watch on TV as the person I originally bumped off of the team now competes in my place, just as it should have been in the beginning.

I suck.

Who am I?

This amuses me

Okay, I posted this also on Yeah, so I'm... but I had to do it here too:



comic: Cleats, viewable on yahoo.com

Not exactly "Bowled Over"

Well, that was uninspiring. It's safe to say this was a pretty uninspiring Super Bowl, compared to recent offerings. We could go on and on about the mistakes both teams made (there were plenty) and the horrible officiating (it seemed like they really wanted Pittsburgh to win) and go on to the important stuff.

The commercials: Overall weren't that great. My vote goes to the "Magic Fridge" with honorable mentions to the Fed Ex Caveman, the "You were open and now you're CLOSED!!" ad, and the young Clydesdale horse ad, which was surprisingly heartwarming.

How much of an asshole Joe Montana is. For those that tuned in late, part of the pregame ceremony included bringing back all the previous Super Bowl MVP's. This included three of the greatest men ever, John Riggins, Doug Williams and Mark Rypien, as well as other heroes of the past. Notably absent were Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana.

Terry Bradshaw has a longstanding dispute with the people of Pittsburgh, and felt it would be too stressful for him to attend, given that this was basically a Steelers home game. I can handle that.

Joe Montana wanted the NFL to guarantee him a minimum $100,000 appearance fee, and refused to show up when the guarantee didn't happen. Are you kidding me? Listen asshole, your reputation is forged from three things...Super Bowl performances, Regular season performances, and the NFL in general, with an honorable mention to Taylor and Rice. You have millions of dollars, and you're going to pull this shit. Well to hell with you Montana, I hope your reputation gets stained beyond repair.

Lastly...trash talk. There were two people prominently involved this week...Joey Porter and Jerramy Stevens. You could say Porter twice and still be correct, but for the sake of argument, let's use both names. Stevens didn't say much, but lived up to his label of being soft. He should be cut this offseason. The only moral to come out of this was that no one should have been interviewing Jerramy Stevens in the first place. He's not good enough, he doesn't deserve it.

Porter ran his mouth all week and got absolutely owned by Walter Jones all game. I didn't hear Porter's name mentioned once all game, until that horse collar on Shaun Alexander, which should have been called. I'm sure we all know the moral here.

Regardless the right team won, the better team won, and I have to go three months now before I get my fix in April, watching the entire NFL draft.

Super Bowl: The End

IT'S THIS
















THESE GUYS




















VERSUS THESE GUYS















FOR THIS









Steelers (-4) v. Seahawks

It's been a long time coming. Since the beginning of the Regular season, we football fans have been looking forward to this game. I don't think anyone had these teams facing off against one another in their Super Bowl predictions. I know I sure didn't. I still don't understand how Pittsburgh are favored in this game. The AFC's 6th versus the NFC's 1st has yielded a 4 point spread. All year long these columns and subsequent picks have been for recreational use only, and while my heart is with Seattle, my wallet would say differently... Pick: Steelers

Last Week: 0-2
Postseason: 4-6
Regular Season: 121-123-12
Season: 125-129-12

Who ya got, I-66?

Take your Bettis homecoming storyline and shove it. He can go home anytime he wants. I'm tired of Jerome Bettis everywhere, Bill Cowher's spitting, and Joey Porter's whining. I'm tired of the black and gold.

Go Seahawks.