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Hi Folks,
We do a ton of insightful, thoughtful and serious features here at Footballguys with smart people thinking deeply for you. This is not one of those features.
This is Random Shots and it's a few pages of me downloading my goofy and dysfunctional mental hard drive that gets stuffed with way too many random items from too many hours watching, reading about and listening to football every weekend and throughout the week. It's the only way I manage. Here's hoping it has some value for you.
We'll see. Now let's get to it.
J
After two straight weeks of heavy openings, we're BACK...
The league changed things up a bit this October switching from Breast Cancer awareness to include awareness and screening for other types of cancer.
But you know I'm breaking out the Chris Berman Breast Awareness clip.
Because I'm twelve. But if you're a regular reader, you knew that already. If you're not a regular reader, this is pretty much what you can expect here. You've been warned.
Kicker Nick Folk with a rough outing Thursday night.
FauxJohnMadden promptly knocked that softball out of the park.
Thanks to Footballguy David Dodds for that one.
Son House was the Music Note a couple of weeks ago. This is easily one of my all time favorite music videos.
If you're interested in more, there's good info here on Son House here and info on the song here.
I mentioned how I loved him and felt in good company as he's one of Jack White's favorites as well.
Sweet cover from the White Stripes here.
I've loved most everything White's done in his career but I sorely miss the White Stripes.
Followup Music Note. If you're like me and loved Tom Petty, I bet you'll like this insightful article by Patterson Hood of the Drive By Truckers. “Like Sonny Liston”: An Appreciation of Tom Petty
Cam Newton made news this week when he dismissed a woman reporter saying “It’s funny to hear a female talk about routes. Like, it’s funny.”
This girl delivered the perfect response.
Newton responded with a sincere apology and even rocked a Rosie The Riveter button on his hat Sunday.
It was a pretty good picture of making a mistake, owning a mistake and doing your best to make it right and move forward.
College Football Note.
Michigan lost the game to Michigan State Saturday but Wolverine QB John O'Korn won the Flop Of The Week award.
Tyler Eifert was on Double Secret Inactive Sunday.
Eifert owners everywhere were:
Thanks to Footballguy Keith Overton for that one.
Baseball Note.
Washington Nationals star pitcher Stephen Strasburg signed a $175 million dollar extension last year. With his team on the ropes trailing the Cubs, 2-1, he was set to pitch Wednesday in Chicago. He declined.
"He told them he’s under the weather.
"He informed the Nationals’ staff that he ran a half-mile Tuesday afternoon, was wheezing during his run and simply isn’t prepared to start Wednesday, even though he’d be on regular rest, according to a person with direct knowledge of the Nationals' pitching plans."
I'm just going to leave that right there...
Big news this week as Adrian Peterson went from being a Saint to a Cardinal. I'm not Catholic but isn't that backward?
Jacksonville's Jalen Ramsey with a classy move Sunday wearing Las Vegas inspired cleats. He'll auction them and donate the money to the Victim's Fund.
Troy Aikman blamed offensive lineman David Bakhtiari for a sack Sunday. As the camera panned to Bakhtiari in street clothes on the sideline.
Thanks to Footballguy Jeff Haseley for that one.
Keep it rolling Cam Newton.
Thanks to Footballguy John Lee for that one.
Tyreek Hill, you're kind of ridiculous.
Oh those tricky Cowboys...
This wasn't a huge deal as the sideline marker isn't an official measurement.
It's not like the Cowboys would ever try to move the ball or anything like that...
Me after T.O.'s tweet...
Carlos Hyde was benched Sunday. This was the headline.
Seriously? "I don't like it" is the big takeaway?
Ian Rapoport made a good point Monday. Before we put Ben Roethlisberger out to pasture, let's not forget the Jacksonville defense is good. Especially the corners.
On the flipside, the Jaguars had fun with this one.
Aaron Rodgers Sunday night...
Oh my.
Thanks to Footballguy (and Eagles fan, shocker, I know) Jeff Pasquino for that one.
The US may not be good enough to earn a draw against Trinidad and Tobago in Soccer, but at least we have this rad new move in the FIFA game...
Here's a snapshot of the Los Angeles Chargers' season thus far.
They finally won a game and threw out this 20% off coupon. That expired two weeks ago...
Bills Mafia plays for keeps.
Good stuff here. The good things players do sometimes don't get the attention they deserve. Click on the link and scroll down to see some of the cool things players have been up to recently.
Michael Vick Throwback.
Make that 10-0...
Although this team has issues.
Thanks to Footballguy Daniel Simpkins for that one.
Speaking of Vikings, Randy Moss is better every week.
Pro Wrestling Note. Shane McMahon is insane.
Play to the whistle, Eric Ebron.
What have you done with John Fox?
Post Season Baseball is wild. I wonder what Bill Belichick would do if the Patriots celebrated a Divisional Playoff win like the Houston Astros here.
Brandon Marshall with a heartfelt message Monday. I love this guy.
Jon Gruden Monday night: "Man I love coaching!"
A live look in on Butch Jones...
The Adrian Peterson trade sent ripples through the league.
Thanks to Footballguy David Dodds for that one.
Sadly, the 2009 hopes were dashed minutes later as the Cardinals cut Chris Johnson.
Giving us the Awkward Tweet Of The Month from September...
Johnson was cool Tuesday though.
Rock on, CJ2K
Kansas City to the rest of the league...
When people say, "Some things you can't coach", this is the type of thing they're talking about. Watson instinctively protects the ball so smoothly here it's hardly noticeable. This young man is fun to watch.
If you asked me the most important rule for understanding, I'd say understand the context. Something that's becoming more and more difficult with lazy journalism in a sound bite society.
Case in point. Cleveland media decided to clip this section of Kizer's post-game presser. He was asked specifically what happened on a turnover and he stated exactly what happened. "I pitched the ball to him, he didn't catch the ball".
This of course was picked up by more lazy journalists with headlines screaming Kizer was "THROWING HIS TEAMMATES UNDER THE BUS"
For context, here's the full version.
I'll save you the five minutes of watching. What you'll see is immediately after he says "he didn't catch the ball", he follows with, "Obviously, it wasn’t an adequate pitch for a catch”.
Then talking about backup QB Kevin Hogan, Kizer said, "Obviously Kevin came out and executed greatly and he represented the Quarterback Room exactly the way we wanted it to be represented in the second half and put us in a position to win this game.”
Basically, he was a young man at the podium offering answers as best he could to explain his poor performance. All while doing the opposite of throwing his teammates under the bus. But a "throw your teammate under the bus" story gets way more clicks.
Pay attention and try to see the bigger picture. And if you're writing about Football, do better.
Melvin Gordon is nasty.
Wrapping with this one today.
This film on Josh Gordon is well worth the thirteen minutes.
It's not especially happy but it's hopeful. And if you're a regular reader, you know I'm down with hopeful.
There's a bigger picture too for this and how we as a society, and me as a writer, enable athletes. Gordon talks about college coaches helping him pass a drug test he should have failed. It's especially interesting how he fondly talks of commissioner Roger Goodell for being the one person to finally say no. And this isn't about whether marijuana should be legal or not. This is about we as society elevating athletes to such a level that we treat them as some sort of superior citizen above the law. It's stupid. It's bad for society and it's bad for the athlete. If you're a gifted athlete in this country, you play by different rules. In middle school. Certainly in high school and even more in college and the NFL. It sucks.
Obviously, I love sports. I'm guessing you do too if you're reading this. Clearly, there's nothing wrong with enjoying a great game or pulling for your team. Quite the opposite. But don't forget perspective and the bigger picture of what's valuable to you. I hope we can keep some levity and not automatically equate "athletic" with "heroic". I believe we're all better if we can pull that off.
Off the soapbox.
That'll do it for this week, Folks. Thanks to Footballguys Clayton Gray, David Dodds, Keith Overton, Jeff Haseley, John Lee, Jeff Pasquino and Daniel Simpkins for the help on this one. If you've got a Random Shot of your own, shoot me an e-mail at bryant@footballguys.com.
Thanks for playing along. I hope you make the most of whatever you're doing in your life. Love your neighbor and stick together.
Peace and Grace to you.
J
