As if we didn't already know, Randy Moss is indeed the man. Here he is taking the "riding" aspect of the Kentucky Derby to a new level with Miss Kentucky USA. Odds are Randy got to play QB and throw a comple of completions to this WR.
During spring break, Tebow added a new facet to his fame. In an
impoverished village outside General Santos City in the Philippines, Tebow
helped circumcise impoverished children.
In an announcement that surprised nobody, Ryan Mallett was denied immediate eligibility for the 2008 season after transferring from Michigan to a school with a pig mascot. That's bad news for Razorbacks fans, who are excited about the three years he'll have. I'm sure they'll go easy on Ryan the first time he fumbles a snap or hurls a ball at a clusterfuck of players on a throw that makes no sense unless you yell "500!" beforehand. It's not like their fanbase is completely, utterly, batshit insane.
Sitting out might not be that bad for Ryan. He can take the year off to do the things in Fayetteville that he did in Ann Arbor to make himself the best quarterback possible: find the Scorekeepers equivalent on campus, yell at players better than him, and make his Facebook page into one indicating he will attend a different school the next year.
If you're looking for unintentionally hilarious Ryan Mallett tidbits, hop on over to his webpage, [Correction: it's an unofficial fanpage not affiliated with Mallett, though the quotes are real -Ed.] complete with quotes from our favorite 19-year old who has done nothing in college to warrant anyone listening to his opinions:
"I have receivers that catch my bullets."I'm sure you do, McDouche. I'll laugh when your next coach leaves early too.
Many of you have probably seen (or at least heard about) the Costas HBO show wherein he talks to Will Leitch of Deadspin. It's pretty much the same old "bloggers aren't qualified like me!" crapola, but slightly less so because it's Costas, and he's not as bad as most (Stephen A Smith, anyone?). He has a roundtable after the interview segment featuring Leitch, Buzz Bissinger (wrote "Friday Night Lights" and is a crotchety old cook), and our man, Braylon Edwards. Leitch gets attacked and defends himself decently, but Braylon, in my opinion, comes out looking the best in this. He has some very good points about the effects of sites like Deadspin (and I suppose MATW). It's good to see the Michigan education working strong.
On a brief aside, I'm not a huge Deadspin fan. There are a bunch of reasons - the "we" pronoun used for everything, the fact that they never take an opinion, the fact that they post pictures of athletes drinking at private parties and then claim to be less invasive than the MSM, etc. But Will Leitch is a good ambassador for blogging and makes an admirable, if not flawless, defense of his profession.
There is ridiculous, then there is this. Imagine, LaDainian Tomlinson brea- OK, not Tomlinson since she would be pouting on the bench. Scratch that. Imagine Joseph Addai breaking loose for a 70 yard run against the Pats. Suddenly "POP!" there goes his ACL. Addai lays in a massive pile of pain on the ground, the ball live next to him. Up rushes Tedy Bruschi, who picks up the ball, places it in Addai's hands and then carries him over the goalline. Would we applaud Bruschi? No. We would heckle him and throw bottles at him. This is sports.
I only hope both teams went out for ice cream after the game.
Western Oregon senior Sara Tucholsky had never hit a home run in her
career. Central Washington senior Mallory Holtman was already her school's
career leader in them. But when a twist of fate and a torn knee ligament brought
them face to face with each other and face to face with the end of their playing
days, they combined on a home run trot that celebrated the collective human
spirit far more than individual athletic achievement.
Both schools compete as Division II softball programs in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. Neither has ever reached the NCAA tournament at the Division II level. But when they arrived for Saturday's conference doubleheader at Central Washington's 300-seat stadium in Ellensburg, a small town 100 miles and a mountain range removed from Seattle, the hosts resided one game behind the visitors at the top of the conference standings. As was the case at dozens of other diamonds across the map, two largely anonymous groups prepared to play the most meaningful games of their seasons.
It was a typical Saturday of softball in April, right down to a few
overzealous fans heckling an easy target, the diminutive Tucholsky, when she
came to the plate in the top of the second inning of the second game with two
runners on base and the game still scoreless after Western Oregon's 8-1 win in
the first game of the afternoon. "I just remember trying to block them out," Tucholsky said of the hecklers. "The first pitch I took, it was a strike. And then I really don't remember where the home run pitch was at all; [I] just remember hitting it, and I knew it was out." A part-time starter in the outfield throughout her four years, Tucholsky had been caught in a numbers game this season on a deep roster that entered the weekend hitting better than .280 and having won nine games in a row. Prior to the pitch she sent over the center-field fence, she had just three hits in 34 at-bats this season. And in that respect, her hitting heroics would have made for a pleasing, if familiar, story line on their own: an unsung player steps up in one of her final games and lifts her team's postseason chances. But it was what happened after an overly excited Tucholsky missed first base on her home run trot and reversed direction to tag the bag that proved unforgettable. "Sara is small -- she's like 5-2, really tiny," Western Oregon coach Pam Knox said. "So you would never think that she would hit a home run. The score was 0-0, and Sara hit a shot over center field. And I'm coaching third and I'm high-fiving the other two runners that came by -- then all of a sudden, I look up, and I'm like, 'Where's Sara?' And I look over, and she's in a heap beyond first base."
While she was doubling back to tag first base, Tucholsky's right knee gave out. The two runners who had been on base already had crossed home plate, leaving her the
only offensive player on the field of play, even as she lay crumpled in the dirt
a few feet from first base and a long way from home plate. First-base coach
Shannon Prochaska -- Tucholsky's teammate for three seasons and the only voice
she later remembered hearing in the ensuing conversation -- checked to see
whether she could crawl back to the base under her own power.
As Knox explained, "It went through my mind, I thought, 'If I touch her, she's going to kill me.' It's her only home run in four years. I didn't want to take that from
her, but at the same time, I was worried about her." Umpires confirmed that
the only option available under the rules was to replace Tucholsky at first base
with a pinch runner and have the hit recorded as a two-run single instead of a
three-run home run. Any assistance from coaches or trainers while she was an
active runner would result in an out. So without any choice, Knox prepared to
make the substitution, taking both the run and the memory from Tucholsky.
"And right then," Knox said, "I heard, 'Excuse me, would it be OK if we carried her around and she touched each bag?'" The voice belonged to Holtman, a four-year starter who owns just about every major offensive record there is to claim in Central Washington's record book. She also is staring down a pair of knee surgeries as soon as the season ends. Her knees ache after every game, but having already used a redshirt season earlier in her career, and ready to move on to graduate school and coaching at Central, she put the operations on hold so as to avoid missing any of her final season. Now, with her own opportunity for a first postseason appearance very much hinging on the outcome of the game -- her final game at home -- she stepped up to help a player she knew only as an opponent for four years.
"Honestly, it's one of those things that I hope anyone would do it for me," Holtman said. "She hit the ball over her fence. She's a senior; it's her last year. … I don't
know, it's just one of those things I guess that maybe because compared to
everyone on the field at the time, I had been playing longer and knew we could
touch her, it was my idea first. But I think anyone who knew that we could touch
her would have offered to do it, just because it's the right thing to do. She
was obviously in agony." Holtman and shortstop Liz Wallace lifted Tucholsky
off the ground and supported her weight between them as they began a slow trip
around the bases, stopping at each one so Tucholsky's left foot could secure her
passage onward. Even with Tucholsky feeling the pain of what trainers
subsequently came to believe was a torn ACL (she was scheduled for tests to
confirm the injury on Monday), the surreal quality of perhaps the longest and
most crowded home run trot in the game's history hit all three players.
"We all started to laugh at one point, I think when we touched the first base,"
Holtman said. "I don't know what it looked like to observers, but it was kind of
funny because Liz and I were carrying her on both sides and we'd get to a base
and gently, barely tap her left foot, and we'd all of a sudden start to get the
giggles a little bit." Accompanied by a standing ovation from the fans, they
finally reached home plate and passed the home run hitter into the arms of her
own teammates. Then Holtman and Wallace returned to their positions and
tried to win the game. Hollywood would have a difficult time deciding how
such a script should end, whether to leave Tucholsky's home run as the decisive
blow or reward the selfless actions of her opponents. Reality has less room for
such philosophical quandaries. Central Washington did rally for two runs in the
bottom of the second -- runs that might have tied the game had Knox been forced
to replace Tucholsky -- but Western Oregon held on for a 4-2 win. But unlike
a movie, the credits didn't roll after the final out, and the story that continues has little to do with those final scores. "It kept everything in perspective and the fact that we're never bigger than the game," Knox said of the experience. "It was such a lesson that we learned -- that it's not all about winning. And we forget that, because as coaches, we're always trying to get to the top. We forget that. But I will never, ever forget this moment. It's changed me, and I'm sure it's changed my players." For her part, Holtman seems not altogether sure what all the fuss is about. She seems to genuinely believe that any player in her position on any field on any day would have done the same thing. Which helps explains why it did happen on that day and on that field. And she appreciates the knowledge that while the results of Saturday's game and her senior season soon will fade into the dust and depth of old media guides and Internet archives, the story of what happened in her final game at home will live on far longer. "I think that happening on Senior Day, it showed the character of our team," Holtman said. "Because granted I thought of it, but everyone else would have done it. It's something people will talk about for Senior Day. They won't talk about who got hits and what happened and who won; they'll talk about that. And it's kind of a nice way to go out, because it shows what our program is about and the kind of people we have here."Graham Hays is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. E-mail him at Graham.Hays@espn3.com.
Tremendous work, Bill & Scott. Snagging Jerod Mayo and then coming back with Shawn Crable? Wonderful. Terrence Wheatley is a baller as well and can play multiple positions.
The Pats are now absolutely LOADED for next season. No weaknesses at all. The linebacking group is looking quick with Mayo, Hobson and Crable joining Adalius, Vrabel, Bruschi and possibly Junior.
Also, Mike Hart going to the Colts is perfect. I can't wait until the first time he runs his mouth and Crable or Adalius buries him. If he makes the roster.
GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT!!! GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT!!!
DISCOUNT SNAKE-OIL ON SALE IN COLUMBUS!!!
Fellows has change of heart
Kevin NoonBuckeyeGrove.com
It was a shock to many Ohio State fans when one of the top
players in the class of 2009 opted to go out of state and commit to Illinois.
Buckeye fans can now have a sigh of relief after Garfield Heights
(Ohio) defensive end Melvin Fellows had a change of heart. The Buckeyes are now
up to 12 commits in the class and have landed another Rivals100 player.
Enjoy years of being driven to the turf, used and abused by your daddy in Foxborough.
You are now the enemy. Richard Seymour, Ty Warren and Vince Wilfork will welcome you to the NFL on September 21.
Regards,
DP
As reported on MATW 614th, Jake Long was in negotiations with the Miami Dolphins to be the number one pick. And now, it's confirmed. Congrats to him - he's come a long way since jumping out of burning buildings. And with this, Lloyd Carr gets one last accolade as head coach: had a player be taken first overall. Just one thing - why did ESPN have to post the dumbest picture ever of Jake Long to announce this?
"Only between the gentlemen." That was what Jim Tressel said when asked if there is a "Gentleman's Agreement" between Big Ten coaches regarding recruits. Eff you, Cheaty.
The Columbus Dispatch of all places has an article outlining one (of many) scenarios when Tressel recruited a player already committed to another Big Ten school. It also quotes Saint Jim retracting his statement.
I think I speak for every Michigan fan when I say to you, Jim Tressel: die in a fire, you disingenuous oxygen-vampire.
"If a kid tells us he's going somewhere else, that's it...if a guy is not interested in coming to Ohio State, and he says that, then we've got to move on."
14-2. Giddyup.
New England Patriots
Wk Date Matchup Time
1 Sept. 7 Kansas City Chiefs 1 p.m.
2 Sep. 14 at New York Jets 4:15 p.m.
3 Sep. 21 Miami Dolphins 1 p.m.
4 Sep. 28 Bye
5 Oct. 5 at San Francisco 49ers 4:15 p.m.
6 Oct. 12 at San Diego Chargers 8:15 p.m.
7 Oct. 20 (Mon.) Denver Broncos 8:30 p.m.
8 Oct. 26 St. Louis Rams 1 p.m.
9 Nov. 2 at Indianapolis Colts 8:15 p.m.
10 Nov. 9 Buffalo Bills 1 p.m.
11 Nov. 13 (Thurs.) New York Jets 8:15 p.m.
12 Nov. 23 at Miami Dolphins 1 p.m.
13 Nov. 30 Pittsburgh Steelers 4:15 p.m.
14 Dec. 7 at Seattle Seahawks* 8:15 p.m.
15 Dec. 14 at Oakland Raiders 4:15 p.m.
16 Dec. 21 Arizona Cardinals 1 p.m.
17 Dec. 28at Buffalo Bills1 p.m.
So apparently the Tuna and his Dolphins are in contract discussions with Jake Long to be the number one overall pick in this year's draft. Awesome. He'll be the first Michigan player to have that honor, and he damned-well deserves it. He eschewed the 'ole NFL draft to come back and try to win some big games his senior year, and regardless of the outcome, he still excelled. It's not everyday somebody turns down a top-5 draft selection to don the maize and blue for one more year. If ever the oft-overused and at times cliche "Michigan Man" moniker was to be satisfactorily employed, it would be for Jake Long.
A testament to how amazing his play was is that years from now, when the Henne/Hart years are dissected and probably lamented as tough ones, Jake Long's name will never come up as a reason to why the teams underachieved. No, his name will be used for invocations of "if only the rest of the team was more like..."
Lloyd Carr on Long, in what is probably the highest compliment a guy can get:
"I coached 30 years in the Big Ten Conference. What I would say about Jake Long is, there's always a lot of discussion about, 'Who is the greatest football player you ever saw at Michigan?' "Jake Long belongs in that discussion."And if that doesn't persuade you as to Long's awesomeness, here's Russell Crowe's response to who he would want on the South Sydney Rabbitohs, Shawn Crable or Mike Hart:
"I want Jake."And so too, apparently, do the Miami Dolphins. American football is probably a safer career option than Aussie Rugby, but good to know he has a backup if need be. Outstanding work by an outstanding guy. I'd say something lame like "make us proud," but he's already done that for us Wolverine faithful.
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