Smokin’ Joe Sizzles On

Joe Frazier 1944 - 2011

R.I.P. Joe Frazier
1944-2011

Cure Cancer….NOW!

The thawing of Chilly, WWE Survivor Series & other Monday Memos

Dear Chilly, G.H.E.T.T.Out! Signed, the city of Minnesota

Is there something in the Gatorade? After a dismal loss to Green Bay on Sunday, the Minnesota Vikings have relieved Brad “I look way too much like Les Grossman from “Tropic Thunder”" Childress of his head coaching duties making Leslie Frazier the interim head coach.

If this sounds eerily familiar, it’s because Dallas took the same approach after also losing to Green Bay, firing Wade Phillips and giving the interim coaching job to former Offensive Coordinator Jason Garrett(who, since taking over the position, has 2 back-to-back wins under his belt).

For about a good year or so there have been reports and rumors about the instability with the Vikings, including a little on-camera footage of sideline spats between Childress and Brett Favre which fueled many to believe their relationship varied from flat out rocky to over and done. That was only one of the many situations clouding the Vikings’ locker room. There was also the limited amount of playing time seen by Tavaris Jackson despite Favre’s ankle injury(or what seemed like a mirage of an injury), his abrupt decision making, their team record, the mid-season resigning and sudden release of Randy Moss and Chilly’s relationship with the team overall. It got to a point where both teammates and fans were crying for Childress’ head on a platter, and now they’ve gotten their wish. A news conference is scheduled for 4 o’clock this afternoon.

I wonder if Brett’s gonna drive Brad to the airport, to bring their relationship full circle. =)

Last night’s “Survivor Series” saw the firing of John Cena after declaring Randy Orton the WWE Champion and not Nexus leader Wade Barrett, Cena is fired because Barrett wasn’t made champion. Had Orton not been named the winner, Barrett would be champion and Cena’s agreement with Nexus would be a done deal. After the match members of Nexus came storming the ring, only to be fought off by Cena and Orton. Cena grabbed the belt and handed it off to Orton, then the two hugged it out. Blegh.

Here are the other successes/losses of last night’s WWE “Survivor Series”:
Kane defeated Edge, keeping the World Heavyweight Championship
Daniel Bryan defeated Ted Dibiase for the United States Championship, but was later attacked from behind by The Miz with the Money In The Bank Case. Future feud, maybe?
Dolph Ziggler defeated Kaval for the Intercontinental Champion title
John Morrison defeated Sheamus
Natalya defeated Layla and Michelle McCool in a handicap match for WWE Divas Champion
In the elimination-style match, Team Mysterio defeated Team Del Rio
In the WWE Tag-Team Champions match, Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater defeated Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov

For the 5th year in a row, NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson wins 2nd place in the Ford 400 Series at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday.

If you watched Blake Griffin on Friday against the Knicks, then you know that Blake Griffin will crush you. No more needs to said about this except do NOT count Griffin out this year, he’s clearly making up for lost time. Assuming he can stay healthy.

***I’d like to take this time out to say a special prayer for 2-year-old Lucas Anthony Tang, who fell from a luxury skybox this weekend at the Staples center shortly after the Lakers-Warriors game. It’s extremely sad that this little guy won’t get to enjoy the evolution of life, but a higher power has his/her own reasons for taking their angels back so soon. It’s not up to us to question it, but to accept it and bask in the great moments we had with them while they were here. So to the family of little Lucas Anthony Tang, you are in my thoughts and prayers during this difficult time and you have my deepest condolences.

Tuesday Talk

Exiting stage right

While you were playing Call Of Duty:Black Ops….

- Wade Phillips got his walking papers yesterday. Some are speculating if it’s in relation to the Cowboys’ 1-7 standings, or how quickly his team was to give up any kind of fight during Sunday night’s game against Green Bay. Personally I feel there is a problem both with personnel and with the team, this is a collective error. Wade will now sit back in the meantime and continue collecting the money owed to him. Recession? What recession?

If anything I’m rather surprised Jerry Jones waited this long to do it, when all along he wanted Jason Garrett as his head coach. So much so that he was willing to pay him goo-gobs of money knowing Garrett was receiving offers from the Ravens and the Falcons. But I guess it’s better late than never, huh?

With only 6 weeks left in the regular season, is Garrett the man to get the job done under pressure?

-Speaking of people unable to get the job done, looks like 2nd year Detroit QB Matthew Stafford might be keeping the bench warm these next 6 weeks. It’s been reported today that he sustained a separated right shoulder, same shoulder that had him benched last season. Of course nothing has been set in stone but it isn’t looking too good for him.

-Love on the rocks:T.O. and Skip Bayless, Brad Childress, Percy Harvin and the Minnesota Vikings, Chad Johnson and society. On that last part, considering Johnson pulled T.O. into the Bengals roster I don’t think anyone really saw Owens performing better than him.

Please get over yourself, Chad, and get back into the game because it sounds like you’re crying favoritism. YOU ARE THE REASON HE’S EVEN ON YOUR TEAM, FOOL, SO WHY ARE YOU COMPLAINING?

-On Cam Newton:Dude allegedly cheated 3 times but now it’s an issue? And he’s up for the Heisman? And it happened 2 years ago?? *thinks about the situation* Moving right along……

-Congrats to today’s Gold Glove winners. Already there’s uproar regarding Derek Jeter being a recipient and not Elvis Andrus. Seriously, why is anyone surprised?

That’s it for today, sorry for the lapse in updates but I’ve found myself busier than ever making the donuts. I can’t promise daily updates but know that updates will continue being made.

BREAKING NEWS:MOSS WAIVED BY VIKINGS

Vikes say farewell to Moss...again

Well that didn’t last long, did it?

After having only played in purple & gold again for less than a month, receiver Randy Moss now finds himself waived by the Minnesota Vikings leaving him up for grabs for another interested team. To acquire Moss, Minnesota gave up a third-rounder to New England for him.

With Moss back on their roster, the Vikings were 1-3 with him starting and that’s counting yesterday’s meeting with the Patriots.

Since Moss was fined $25K by the league for not cooperating with the media & making it quite known that he doesn’t care to engage in interviews for the rest of the season, don’t expect a reaction from him following this chapter in his career.

There’s no word as of yet regarding where Moss will possibly end up, speculators are humming about a return to New England but the Brady-Branch relationship seems rather strong. Only time will tell but there is still 8 weeks left in the regular season. It’ll be interesting to see where he goes next.

Breakups to makeups?

Mom and Dad keeping it strong for the kids

Do you recall last year when the televised sideline spat between Minnesota Vikings head coach Brad Childress and his then new girlfriend Football Jesus (we will refer to him as such for right now, only because I despise ever having to utter his name) regarding playing time?

Well here we are again, only this time it involves that injured ankle FJ sustained during the pre-season. During the Vikings-Packers game on Sunday, FJ re-tweaked the ankle and is now sporting a walking boot in the meantime. Perhaps he’s taking the decision to limit his playing time as a blow to his pride because of his age, but let’s be realistic as you approach a certain age your bones are not as resilient to taking massive hits like they did when you were younger. So instead of being a whiny little bitch about it, be appreciative that you’re getting any playing time at all and that you’re listed as a starter instead of a backup QB.

The media is making more out of this than is necessary, as usual(*cough*ESPN*cough*), and as long as FJ is still embroiled in the whole Personal Conduct investigation expect for the microscope to continue focusing on all things Football Jesus. And sadly at some point I strongly feel this will not end well for his family, having survived breast cancer is a feat of strength by itself but having to deal with the public scrutiny surrounding your husband’s overly gross persistence to get his thumb sucked by another woman(who strangely enough looks like a younger you)will prove testing for Deanna and just how much she can forgive & forget.

As far as the so-called rift between Chilly and his boo, well it’ll pass with time. It’ll pass even faster if people would focus more on the game and less on any available drama that can be found or fabricated.

Last time I checked this was the NFL, not TMZ.

Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar:Imaginary?

White/Taker/Lesnar 3-way? No way!

It was reported yesterday that a videotaped altercation between Brock Lesnar and WWE’s The Undertaker after Lesnar’s UFC 121 title loss might have been a planted angle for an upcoming WWE bout starring the two.

According to UFC president Dana White (in my best Maury Povich voice) THAT’S A LIE!

The last thing Dana White would welcome is a UFC/WWE fusion and after seeing the video footage it did look fake as a pair of Hollywood implants. And it would seem that Lesnar wouldn’t wanna rock the boat with White by feeding into a lame duck like staging a fake fight with anyone from the WWE, talk about oil and water not mixing. While there’s no contract deal binding the two into a Wrestlemania 27 fight, I highly doubt Brock would go against his UFC contract to participate in a big money match.

But if you know like I know, stranger things have happened.

Concussions:Getting worse before they get better?

I’ve written twice so far regarding head injuries in the NFL, but it is a major problem in sports period. Only now is it an issue because of the number of NFL players suddenly succumbing to concussions ranging from mild to severe, on Sunday the concussion count reached 10 with some of those being very hard to watch if you were watching yesterday.

Over the weekend a Rutgers University player sustained a neck injury so severe it left him paralyzed, he’s now looking towards recovery but more than anything it was a wakeup call to team presidents both collegiate and professional.

With the NFl the question remains what will the league do about the sudden rise in head injuries. It was brought up last night during Sunday Night Football that a few years ago rules were put in place that allowed teams to suspend players responsible for injuring another player during contact, but that rule has yet to be enforced. Rodney Harrison even mentioned how he’d lived through being suspended for that very reason and having to pay fines of $50K, going so far as to say that players won’t learn from this unless they face suspensions. Now word is coming from VP Ray Anderson that finally players may start receiving suspensions in response to their actions.

Maybe it’s just me, but that hardly solves the problem. And on top of that the league is looking to impose an 18-game season next year, yet I’m sure that after this weekend’s body count they may want to rethink such a hasty decision. I mean it’s Week 6 and already we’ve witnessed more concussions than necessary, and that doesn’t even include the undetected concussions players experience from not-so-damaging hits either from another player or from ground force.

Even though the helmets these players wear are practically brand new redesigns, something clearly isn’t working. Only so much can be done in the padding area when you think about the brain hitting the skull during a forceful hit against another player’s chest/stomach/helmet. Do you place limits on players tilting their heads upon impact as to avoid said injury? Do you redesign the helmets again, as if to assume they may somehow cut down on the velocity from a hit? Do you start handing out suspensions? What happens when you’re faced with having to use third-stringers because your starter and second-string players are currently on suspension from injuring someone?

I personally think it’s very hard to come to a resolution about this topic when dealing with such a physical sport. Though I will admit so long as the 18-game season is done away with, I’d be happy as I know many others would too.

Don’t get mad, Lovie…get better

The Sodom & Gomorrah of the NFC North

For the past 4 weeks I’ve avoided talking about the Bears, but after Sunday’s melee it’s quite clear that there is a huge glitch in the matrix.

Last week’s meeting with Green Bay was horribly played on both sides of the field, there were obvious struggles on defense as well as offense (a whole lot of them on offense) but the Bears managed to squeak out a victory despite their many flubs. And they should give lots of thanks to the 17 Packer penalties.

This week, again the offense just failed to make waves. The complete lack of QB protection gave us “The How Many Times Can We Sack Jay Cutler Game” for the New York Giants, and as a result Cutler sustained a concussion. This led to Chicago showing the world that they indeed have a problem with replacement quarterbacks, by calling up Todd Collins from the bench..only to end up making 1 completion and receiving a number of sacks himself. At the last minute Caleb Hanie was brought in but it did absolutely no good, the Bears walked away from this embarrassing loss to the Giants 17-3 with only 6 first downs and 110 total yards.

Last time I saw stats that astronomically bad was when the Giants played the Colts in Week 2 and accumulated both 6 passing yards and 6 rushing yards total. Yup, the same Giants whose defense penetrated the vulnerability of Chicago’s offensive line, which is not looking too great for the rest of the season….again.

And the usually docile Lovie Smith was anything but during yesterday’s presser, answering every question regarding Cutler’s status for Sunday with a clearly agitated “he’s just fine”. At one point he barked at a reporter by stating “believe it or not, I was at the game too.”

Funny, considering the team played like there wasn’t a coach in sight. I’ve said twice since the end of the 09 season and now that Smith will not return next year, and after having brought on Mike Martz to tighten up Cutler’s performance only for the Bears to be facing Week 5 with a still questionable quarterback situation and an even more questionable o-line. Everyone knows that work really needs to be done on blocking, but this is Week 5 and you knew that you had these problems last season so why weren’t major holes like this one plugged during the off-season? You had plenty of time and salary cap room.

Now that the team is no longer one of the 2 undefeated teams in the league, I don’t see the Bears digging themselves out of this hole anytime before playoffs approach.

Och-O’s:part of a “cum”plete breakfast?

Remember being a kid and Saturday mornings were the best time ever? Waking up early to catch all your favorite cartoons & enjoying them with a few bowls of your favorite cereal.

Well for one 9-year-old girl this wasn’t the case at all.

Flamboyant Cincinnati receiver Chad “I’m Too Sexy To Properly Learn Spanish, So I’ll Call Myself Ochocinco Instead Of Ochenta y Cinco” Johnson has decided to release his own line of cereals, the cereal line is also helping to promote Feed The Childrenbut a printing blunder brought the wrong kind of exposure to this otherwise innocent venture.

On the back of the boxes is a number to call to donate money for hungry children, or that’s how it was supposed to go. The number for Feed The Children, 1-888-HELP-FTC, was instead printed as 1-800-HELP-FTC which takes you to a phone sex line. You can hear a recording of a woman telling you how “me and my ultra-hot girlfriends will do whatever it takes to pleasure you” leading into descriptions of a variety of sexual positions performed by “the sluttiest girls your nasty imagination can dream.”

Well damn. Who can argue with that?

“Ochocinco” called it a goof-up, gee ya think?

Not much else has been said about any of the boxes being pulled for reprinting purposes, but I bet this little girl got a good lesson in reading comprehension.

Mental Illness & The NFL

After last week’s tragic news regarding the death of Denver Broncos WR Kenny McKinley, I was talking with someone on Twitter about it and I’d said that players are genuinely hesitant to reach out for assistance when dealing with matters relating to mental health(depression, bipolar disorder, etc.).

Well a story on Yahoo! Sports came out yesterday echoing that very same statement.

Realistically, players in the NFL are pressured from all sides to be the greatest player they can be and in this day and age when a star player is plucked out of his element in his early 20′s, and looking at more than lucrative starting contracts, it’s even more pressure for one to be great at his job. Especially when that job calls for him to be under the microscope 16 weeks a year(not including training camp or their college days).

It’s easy for someone to say players should take the help offered to them by the NFLPA when facing self-doubt or other ongoing problems that occurred way before signing that contract, but you’d be hard pressed to find many linemen, secondaries or QBs ready to admit that they are not supermen. That they are vulnerable and aren’t made of steel. That they’re human.

How can they? Since they first learned how to throw a lateral people from all walks of life have been in their ears telling them how great they’ll be as a Cowboy or a Jet, and that’s what they’ve based their entire future on:being that invisible player who can withstand any obstacle and endure any form of pain. Now we’re seeing that this is indeed not true, that these players are no different than you or myself. This goes far beyond ego and more into the mental image players have about themselves, that they’re born to be indestructible until they’re injured so badly that their future’s in jeopardy. Sometimes automatically ended.

Many players who find themselves in situations where a career-ending injury has presented itself tend to look to drugs, alcohol or both as a pain killer when really it has the exact opposite effect. While they know of the help offered by the union, again they’d rather avoid facing up to the realization that this is happening to someone like them and instead turn to many vices that go against the league’s Substance Abuse Policy.

So while the league presents a more open-door policy regarding players needing help in their lives, situations like McKinley’s have now brought grief counselors into the fold letting players know that they’re there to listen & not judge;their role is not to only be around when tragedy strikes, but as that shoulder to lean on.

Question is who will be the first to say “help me” before we’re faced with another life gone too soon?