The Week That Was 1/30/06 - 2/5/06 

 

ED: MADDEN!!!!!

 

BB: MONOPOLY!!!!!!!!!

 

NFL

 

ED: JOHN MADDEN!!!!! HARRY CARSON!!!  WARREN MOON! Reggie White, Troy Aikman and Rayfield Wright are all elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  Yes, we too are miffed by the big snub of a great WR...Poor-poor Art Monk.

 

BB: Oh – cause I was gonna say – isn’t Steve Largent already in the Hall of Fame?

 

ED: SUPER BOWL!!!  WOW!  Frankie Rodriguez blows a save!  Oh, you mean that there fixed football game that I gave up on in the first half.  Yeah, Steelers 21, Seahawks 10.  Now let's never speak of this rotten sport again.

 

BB: Football equivalent of Frankie Rodriguez: um…let’s see. Young team, perpetually rebuilding. Overhyped prospect. Production never commensurate with buzz. Wait! Midwe…yes…FRANKIE RODRIGUEZ HAS THE BOMB DICK!!!!!

 

ED: ASSISTANT COACHING MOVES!!! The Broncos hire Mike Heimerdinger as assistant head coach and promote Rick Dennison to O-Coordinator. The Jets hire Brian Schottenheimer as O-Coordinator. (BRILLIANT!!! A SCHOTTENHEIMER AS AN O-COORDINATOR!!!) The Bills fire D-Coordinator Jerry Gray and QB's Coach Sam Wyche. The Packers hire Kurt Schottenheimer as their D-Backs coach. The Jaguars hire Mike Tice as assistant head coach. The Cowboys hire Chris Palmer as QB's coach. The Lions hire Mike Mar-- Aww crap! The Texans hire Richard Smith as D-Coordinator, Brian Pariani as TE's coach, Mike McDaniel O quality control coach and Robert Saleh D quality control coach.

 

BB: Words cannot explain how happy it would make me if Mike Martz got the Raiders job. I think, of course, after the failed suicide attempt, I would never have to write again since VP would just be a constant stream of Ed vulgarity.

 

ED: TROUBLE LIST!!! Bengals WR Chris Henry is for pulling a gun on a group of people. Relax, folks. He did this in Kentucky. Such a move is a common greeting there. Jags WR Reggie Williams gets community service for pot possession. Trial dates are set for the Vikings sex cruise case.

 

BB: This is like Colorado where you start a conversation with a girl at a frat party by raping her.

 

ED: The NFL is kicking in $20 million towards repairing the Superdome. Now if only they had a team to put in there.

 

BB: Or fans. How did you miss THAT one?

 

ED: Richie Anderson signs with the Jets, then retires. Which is a better option than playing for the Jets, of course.

 

BB: He then ran a zero route out of the room.

 

ED: Eagles QB Donovan McNabb calls former Eagles WR Terrell Owens' criticism of him, "black on black crime." Umm...yeah.  Yeah.  I'm just gonna back away from this one.

 

BB: Phil Rippa – 10/23/03 – “- I don't care how much he sucks and how much the man props him up, Donovan McNabb is (bad word) cut like Cock Diesel. I would never ever want to anger the man.”

 

BB: Of course – Phil in that same e-mail – “My mom would so cheat on my Dad with Mariano Rivera. I mean, she wouldn't even think twice. It chills me to the bone.”

 

BB: And later in the day – “My mom's 2nd trophy wife was Robin Ventura. So, yes, she is not an Aaron

Boone fan. Though her screaming at the tv "GO HOME RED SOX!!!! GO HOME!!!!"

is one of the highlights of my life.”

 

ED: Colts QB Peyton Manning named the NFL's Walter Payton Man of the Year. Poor-poor Walter Payton.

 

ED: Larry Csonka pleads guilty to charges of illegally filming on national forest lands. AWESOME!!! I can't wait to see Turbo in antlers!

 

BB: Oh I hate you. The great thing was my roommate watching the introduction of the 39 Super Bowl MVPs and recognizing two things: that something was up since Joe Montana wasn’t there, and that Larry Csonka was on American Gladiators once. Of course they did not compare to LARRY BROWN!!!!!!!!

 

NBA

 

ED: Knicks coach Larry Brown is fined $20K for not leaving the court in a timely manner after being ejected from a Knicks-Laker game. Geez. Most smart people would run as fast as possible from that mess.

 

BB: Larry Brown only runs for a three million dollar contract settlement and a five-year-deal with North Carolina. There’s been some chatter within my Brooklyn sources that he may be responsible for the shooting of Busta Rhymes’ bodyguard this weekend. More on that next week.

 

ED: The Knicks trade F-C Antonio Davis to Toronto for G Jalen Rose, a 2006 1st round pick and cash. So much for being the King of NYC, Antonio.

 

ED: Antonio Davis' wife is charged with misdemeanor battery charges for throwing a cup of coffee at a woman in a traffic dispute. Drunken hecklers take note.

 

ED: NBA All-Star starters are announced. Rockets C Yao Ming is the top vote-getter, Kobe Bryant is second. No white girls were harmed in the affair.

 

BB: I’m pretty sure Yao Ming couldn’t harm a white fly, let alone a white girl. The idea of Yao Ming heading to SXSW to pick up the drunk college hipster girls makes me happy inside, though.

 

ED: The New Orleans Hornets are going to play most of their homes games next season in Oklahoma City. Mmm, bomb jokes.

 

NHL

 

ED: The Devils retire the jersey of Scott Stevens. In honor of his Devils glory years, the jersey will be clutched and grabbed ad infinitum before being hoisted to the rafters.

 

BB: Aww….he was a Capital before he was good. You can say that about a lot of people though.

 

ED: Islanders C Kevin Colley fractures his fifth cervical vertebrae in an Islanders game this week. I was going to make a joke about Canadian currency but Colley is from Connecticut. Connecticut?! A hockey player from Connecticut? BAH!

 

BB: Clearly you haven’t been to Connecticut very recently. The girl from Connecticut I worked with giving it up to the guy who said “I just got drafted by the Canucks and I’m going to play junior hockey in a couple of months” cannot be topped.

 

AFL

 

WEEK TWO!!!

 

ED: Orlando tops KC, 48-41.  Aww.  Every time a KC football team loses, Jesus smiles.

 

ED: Tampa Bay 51 Grand Rapids 43.  Well, fortunately, for the people in Michigan JEROME BETTIS RETURNS TO MICHIGAN!!!  That should soothe their pain.

 

ED: Nashville 53, Columbus 27.  Oh.  So Columbus didn't get better, Grand Rapids just really sucks?  OK.  Gotcha.

 

ED: New York 51, Chicago 47.  AWESOME!!! KEVIN SWAYNE!!! goes wild with 4 TD's.

 

ED: Austin 53, Arizona 34.  Poor-poor Sherdrick Bonner.

 

ED: Dallas 56, Utah 53.  Well that answers the question: Mormons can't beat thugs. 

 

ED: Philly takes LA, 47-33.  I didn't watch.  Perchance was Bon Jovi shown?  Or was he busy singing sad songs for Richie Sambora?

 

ED: Colorado 61, Georgia 59.  Ohh!  I didn't see this either.  Let me guess - numerous closeups of Elway's horse teeth!  However could I have guessed that?

 

NCAA

 

ED: NATIONAL SIGNING DAY!!! WHEE!  BARELY LEGAL ACTION!!!

 

ED: Texas A&M files suit against the Seattle Seahawks for their use of "12th Man." Nosuh. No such thing as a frivolous law suit.

 

ED: Wisconsin kicks RB Booker Stanley off the football team for the sexual assault charges levied against him.  Well, either for that or for being like one of 12 black man in the entire state.  Whichever.

 

BB: GO HOME BLACK MEN! GO HOME!

 

MLB

 

ED: Former Tiger Jack "Whistling Jack" Wade dead at 93. Odds of him being one of the best pitchers for the Tigers next season still incredibly high.

 

BB: Well, Jim Leyland IS the Tigers manager. You know once he blows out Jeremy Bonderman’s elbow, he’s gonna want a veteran arm or five to mangle in the rotation. And since I will forget to make this joke in the preview, I might as well make it now – what are the odds that Jim Leyland will go to Tiger Stadium first on his first day of work at Comerica Park?

 

ED: Phil Rizutto is selling all his stuff.  Yes. Apparently he still had stuff even after selling everything - including his soul - to the devil to somehow get in the Hall of Fame.

 

BB: I wonder how much his autographed copy of “The Politics of Glory” is gonna go for. The Curmudgeonly Beard will buy it just to THROW IT BACK AT HIM! GO HOME OLD MAN! GO HOME!!!

 

ED: MORE PLAYA MOVEMENT!!! The Twins sign OLD! Ruben Sierra. The Red Sox sign YANKEE HELPER!!! Alex Gonzalez. The Reds sign P Rick White. The Nats sign P Felix Rodriguez, SS Royce Clayton and OF George Lombard.

 

BB: The Red Sox had some ugly, ugly NRI’s. Of course, they also signed Dustan Mohr on the Mark Bellhorn “Good year outside of Colorado, bad year in Colorado, good year in Boston” plan. Then again, I had Bellhorn and Mohr on my fantasy teams for each of their bad years in Colorado. Oops.

 

ED: Reds Manager Jerry Narron reveals that Reds OF Adam Dunn played last season with a broken hand. Yeah, but was he nice to Sean Casey? THAT'S what we need to know!

 

ED: Orel Hershiser quits his front office gig with the Rangers. Is now to be employed clearing Tommy Lasorda's blowhole.

 

BB: Oh no Ed – that’s what the Cuban defectors are for during the WBC.

 

ED: Greenwich Insurance Co. is accusing the St. Louis Cardinals of making false claims regarding the land that the new Busch Stadium is built upon being polluted. Well, if it wasn't contaminated before, Joe Buck stepping foot there certainly will pollute it.

 

BB: Nah. You gotta assume it’s gonna be the gel from the magnifi-mullet.

 

ED:  Speaking of stadiums - the stadium formerly known as Pac Bell Park in San Francisco will now be known as AT&T Park/Stadium/Whatever.

 

ED: A whole buncha people are pulling out of the WBC because they suddenly realized…Hey! This is stupid! Good to know even dumb jocks catch on.

 

ED: But of high importance, as far as pre-season exhibitions goes - THE CARIBBEAN WORLD SERIES HAS STARTED!!! Ahh, sweet-sweet Super Bowl alternative!

 

BB: Poor hockey.

 

SOCCER

 

BB: Newcastle offers you the position of manager. The board expects you to achieve European qualification, and is prepared to offer you a transfer kitty of ₤26,000 to achieve these goals. Do you accept?

 

BB: Sol Campbell’s week: Have an awful half against West Ham. Get substituted. Leave stadium at halftime. Have manager say it’s ok because you’re stressed. Have your teammate say you’re having personal problems. Read dozens of British tabloids reporting that your beard of a wife is leaving since she found you with a man. Have every commentator question your fitness for the World Cup or even your future in soccer. Your lawyer releases a statement saying everything’s fine. Geez, Rio Ferdinand just forgets to show up for drug tests when he doesn’t want to deal with this. And let’s not talk about Mike Piazza.

 

BB: TRANSFER MARKET!!!! God – where is Ed when I need him. Manchester City signs Greek striker Giorgios Samaras for ₤6 million. Joey Barton promptly hands in a transfer request since he won’t be the highest-paid player on the team. TEASE!!! Portsmouth sign a buncha people on loan, including Andres D’Alessandro. I immediately join Rippa on the Portsmouth bandwagon. Tottenham sign Danny Murphy from Charlton for ₤2 million. Alan Curbishley does a Nomar-job on Murphy on the way out. Birmingham sign DJ Campbell for ₤500,000 in a Angelos-esque move. Norwich sign Robbie Earnshaw from WBA for ₤3.5 million. Bryan Robson does an even bigger Nomar-job on Earnshaw on his way out. Blackburn sign David Bentley from Arsenal and he promptly scores a hat trick against Manchester United on his full debut.

 

BB: Paolo Di Canio weighs a move back to England after this season. Apparently he’s going to celebrate his goals by pretending to suicide bomb the corner flag and having his teammates act like paparazzi as he drives his “car” into the side of the goal.

 

BB: Like four lower-league managers get suspended for improper contact (BUNGS!!!) and begin to sue the teams they managed. Except for Ian Holloway – greatest man alive – who may soon be managing – be still heart – Leicester City. Awww

 

BB: Mark Lawrenson calls Jean-Alain Boumsong the worst player in the Premiership. Has clearly not seen Titus Bramble. Or a Sunderland match.

 

BB: Middlesborough fans protest Steve McLaren and their team’s poor form. McLaren, people dressed like empty seats that make up 75% of Riverside urge patience.

 

OTHER

 

ED: The CFL is looking into expanding into Windsor. Well, at least the people of Detroit have a chance to FINALLY have a football team nearby.

 

BB: Can they share Charles Rogers?

 

ED:  Tiger Woods wins another golf tournament!  Well, even watching that would have been more palatable than 7 hours of Berman gushing over the Steelers.

 

ED: OH NO!!! Lance Armstrong and Sheryl Crow split up! Oh gee! Oh my! What kind of world is this when two incredibly untalented people lose their love?

 

BB: Awww…no action for you, even if you are a hockey player old man.

 

ED:  The Kentucky Derby reaches a sponsorship deal with the parent company of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and...yes...KFC.  Mmm, tacky.

 

BB: Ooh – ooh – they’re gonna take the euthanized horses and serve them to the spectators???

 

ED: Bode Miller talks abooutnaw. I don't care. Shaddup or play a real sport, ski boy.