Continue Reading September 1st, 2006
Mixed Martial Arts— UFC 62 Fighter Salaries
by Ivan TrembowOriginally Published on MMAWeekly
UFC 62 took place on Saturday, August 26th at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada and aired on pay-per-view. The following figures are…
Continue Reading September 1st, 2006
Man has debated the true nature of vegetables since the beginning of recorded history. Does celery have a soul? Do carrots believe in a higher existence? And what’s the deal with garden cress? We don’t think we would be able to sleep at night if we thought that, when he passes to his great reward, that Wilmington Blue Rocks mascot Mr. Celery would not be ascending to a higher plain. And thanks to our good friends at Heavenly Images, we have blessed reassurance. We can now sleep the sleep of angels.
And the Lord said, “Blessed are the herbacious vegetables, for they will be called crunchy and nutricious.”
It’s a shorter day before the holiday weekend, so we’ve got another Hall of Fame vote and a week in review coming up today. So this is just our way of saying “Have a good weekend,” and don’t do anything that we wouldn’t do.
Minor Enterprise: An Interview With Mr. Celery [Deadspin]
Planning For That Sad Time When Barbaro Leaves Us [Deadspin]
Deadspin HOF Nominee: The Vikings Sex Boat [Deadspin]
Continue Reading September 1st, 2006
We are officially less than a month before the start of the NFL season, so it’s probably time to start previewing the monster. The key to the NFL’s success — other than fantasy football and gambling, of course — is the rabid nature of its fans. That is to say: You don’t see a lot of people painting their faces for their favorite golfer.
We asked a gaggle of writers, from the Web, from print, from books, even a TV guy or two, to tell us, in as many or as little words as they need, why My Team Is Better Than Your Team. This is not meant to be factual, or dispassionate, or even logical: We just asked them to riff on why they love their team so much, or what their team means to them, or whatever. We will be running two a day until the beginning of the NFL season.
Right now: the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Your author is Russell Levine.
Russell Levine is a contributing editor at Football Outsiders. His words are after the jump.
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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been playoff contenders pretty much for a decade now — their six postseason appearances are tied for the NFL lead since 1997 — so it pains me to think there’s a developing generation of NFL fans that knows absolutely nothing of the franchise’s infamous past.
The Bucs have risen from two decades of mostly hideous football to win a recent Super Bowl, yet the scars from the early years run deep. Their history includes a dozen consecutive seasons with 10-plus losses, some of the ugliest uniforms of all-time and a mascot that struck fear in the hearts of interior decorators everywhere. Remember Bucco Bruce, aka “The Gay Blade?” You know, still single after all these years?” Bruce (for the proper effect, pronounce it with a lisp), a winking pirate with a giant feather in his cap and a big hoop earring and a knife in his teeth, looked like a cross between Captain Feathersword and a refugee from a Fire Island Halloween bash.
The Bucs’ scars are my scars. I picked them as my team when I was seven — and they were darlings of the NFL. Little did I know that my first day as a Bucs fan — the 1979 NFC championship game loss to the L.A. Rams — would be the high-water mark for the next 18 years. I stuck with them through all of it, despite growing up in central New Jersey (in fact, my next-door neighbor was the same John Bolster who wrote the Dolphins preview yesterday). I wore my James Wilder No. 32 jersey proudly every Sunday. I drew pictures of Bucco Bruce in elementary school art class.
I came close to packing it in once; I think it was the Alvin Harper experience that nearly sent me over the edge. But the team was sold, and the new owner proclaimed a new era. He spent money, hired a coach with a clue (Tony Dungy), got a stadium built. And on January 26, 2003, the new, pewter Bucs kicked the crap out of the Raiders in the Super Bowl. I was there, sitting by myself in a sea of Raider fans at Qualcomm Stadium. I got choked up when it was over simply because of the price I and every other long-time fan had paid in emotional sweat and tears to be able to enjoy that moment. We, too, had worn the orange.
The owner who rescued the franchise, Malcolm Glazer, would rather we all forget the orange. Bucco Bruce hasn’t seen the light of day since new uniforms were unveiled in 1997. During Thanksgiving weekend, NFL.com typically displays “throwback” logos for 31 of 32 teams: Tampa Bay is the lone exception. It’s one of the reasons Glazer and his family (three sons are team executives) aren’t beloved in Tampa, despite having delivered a Super Bowl to long-suffering fans. They’re not exactly warm and fuzzy, either. I met another of the Glazers once and thanked him profusely for what the family had done for the franchise. He told me “I want you to have something,” before reaching into his wallet and handing me … a pocket schedule. Not exactly the invite to the owner’s box that I was hoping for.
To be fair, Malcolm Glazer is currently recovering from a pair of strokes, so let me give him credit for a few things. He is the first man to sport the “beard but no mustache” look successfully since Abe Lincoln … His acceptance speech of the Lombardi Trophy was the most awkward two minutes of television since “The Wonder Years” went off the air … Oh, and he stuck it to Euros everywhere by buying up their favorite soccer club, Manchester United. Has your team’s owner ever been hanged in effigy by 10,000 drunken, heavily tattooed soccer hooligans? Daniel Snyder can only dream.
Our owner may not be better than yours, but our coach sure is. Jon Gruden looks like Chucky, sleeps three hours a night and set an unofficial record for bleeps the last time he wore a mike during a game. His offense is so complex that “U Shift to Green Left West F Short Fire Two U Banana Z Over” is a three-yard slant. How’s that for intimidation! Even our verbiage is tougher than yours.
Gruden is colorful, but he’s got nothing on John McKay, the USC legend who was the first coach in franchise history. Once asked about his team’s execution during a particular game, he replied, “I’m in favor of it.” Then there was Sam Wyche, infamously caught by NFL Films describing his bladder infection to the opposing coach during pregame pleasantries. Before his final game with the Bucs, the lame-duck Wyche tried to send the team out wearing orange jerseys and pants — a monochromatic nightmare that not even the present-day Seattle Seahawks can match. As the story goes, a locker room mutiny ensued in which the team refused to take the field dressed like pumpkins. Thankfully, the players won.
Our history is better than yours, too. Yeah, the 1972 Dolphins went 17-0. Big deal. The Bucs have played 30 seasons without ever returning a kickoff for a touchdown. You tell me which is more impressive?
You want legacy? The Buccaneers are responsible for impeding the geographic knowledge of an entire generation of Americans. The team does not play in “Tampa Bay,” which is a body of water. The city they call home is “Tampa.” (For proof, check the dateline on all those news stories about Deadspin Hall-of-Fame nominees Renee Thomas and Angela Keathley). That’s the Buccaneers: stifling the intellectual growth of kids everywhere since 1976. Gives them sort of a “burnouts smoking butts in the school parking lot” edge, don’t you think?
All the history is nice, but when you get right down to it, these days this is a pretty good football team. Chris Simms no longer resembles the over-hyped college player who was good for four turnovers in every big game he played. Cadillac Williams was the rookie of the year last season. Joey Galloway is 34 and has two rebuilt knees, yet is still the fastest straight-line runner in the NFL. The defense can play a little, too, with studs like Ronde Barber, Derrick Brooks and Simeon Rice — who’s as crazy as Darryl Dawkins, by the way. The coordinator, Monte Kiffin, is an old-school wizard whose “Tampa 2″ scheme is all the rage around the NFL.
One final thing you should know about the Bucs. If you hate stat geeks, they’re for you. At Football Outsiders, we run all kinds of complex stats and spreadsheets to tell you what’s going to happen in the NFL. Yet the Bucs so confounded us in 2003-2004 — going 12-20 despite our predictions that they’d be a playoff team — that when our numbers said they’d be good again last year, we threw up our hands and said “uncle.” Of course, they went 11-5 and won their division. The numbers say they’re probably going 8-8 this year, but the Bucs are better than our numbers, and they’re also better than your team.
Continue Reading September 1st, 2006
(We’ve often wondered how this site reads to those in other countries. Although not exactly what we were looking for, we were lucky enough to be contacted by a young man who runs a strikingly similar basketball blog in Europe to get his take on the USA’s failure to win gold in Japan. The post is his from here on. - The Cavalier)
Oh yes! Now it being crazy in el streets of Greece, baby! Now it is! Whooo-weee!
We am in reading on the American site ESPN, et the people writer is saying “oh boo hoo!” We be in the club doing crazy dance! Look!
“This is the biggest thing we’ve ever done,” former Greek star Panayiotis Fasoulas said. “The Americans are the most talented players but we have a better team. Right now we’re the best in the world. … Beating the U.S. is more important than the final.”
Well, we are not being in the electric about that, et then it is electric about this! What about el grande trophy? La mans! Go get them number one! Then there may be wellness hugging and laughing!
Anyhow, we guess el crepes et dans l’oven for el Americanos now, bebe!
Well, le question only left et how much el lose to Argentinaland for la fourth place! Hola American movie stars!
Continue Reading September 1st, 2006
How much do you think you would pay for the greatest book in the world? We’re talking about the definitive book on the planet, one that would somehow combine what every other book you’ve ever read has done for you, change your life, maybe even take out the trash from time to time. How much would you pay for that book? What is the maximum possible value of a book?
How about $4,000? No. How about $40,000? We introduce you to Super Bowl XL Opus, the definitive history of the NFL written by the “finest sportswriters in the US, both past and present.” The “Limited Edition” of this book — the basic, cheaper model — is $4,000. But the “MVP Edition,” which has a page signed by all 40 of the Super Bowl MVPs — you too can have Dexter Jackson’s signature! — runs $40,000. $40,000! A book!
Look, we love books. Love them. But $40,000 … heck, for that much money, you could get two actual tickets to an NFL game.
Super Bowl XL Opus [KrakenOpus]
Continue Reading September 1st, 2006
In 2004 I began blogging here, at Mr. Irrelevant, and there, at Pigskin Bloggers. In 2005 we began podcasting a blog-driven radio show, Sports Bloggers Live. And now, in 2006, we’ve launched what will become the largest, finest sports blogging network, the AOL FanHouse. There’s even a press release and everything.
FanHouse began humbly earlier this week with an NFL network consisting of at least one blogger for all 32 teams as well as a few lead bloggers overseeing the whole league. The front page gets updated maybe 20 times per day with the most high-interest content and the individual team pages (case in point, Redskins FanHouse) get updated once, twice and sometimes even thrice per day. The content covers everything from Leinart having a baby to the Bachelor getting cut to Javon needling Favre and beyond.
The writers, one of whom I am not, were by and large recruited from the existing football blogging community and are exactly why this thing is so good so soon. And we’ve only just begun. The NCAA Football FanHouse launches this month and NBA, NCAA Hoops, MLB, NHL, NASCAR, Golf, Tennis, etc., etc. are to follow. So check out what we’ve got up so far and drop comments with any feedback you may have. It’s very much a work in-progress, but we’re extremely proud of it nonetheless.
Also, I’d like to take a moment to thank all of the folks at AOL who pulled this off. It was an ambitious project with a tight timeline and limited resources, so much respect and gratitude to Neal Scarbrough, Kevin Lockland, Shawn Schrager, Emil Morrow, Robert Lepore, Elliott Thompson, Mike Diamond, Nicole Cosby, Felicia Perez and others for bringing it home. I’d also like to mention that this idea, this vision was something my old friend Bob Wooldridge and Idiscussed at length before he was gone, and I know he’d be proud to see it become a reality.
Here’s what some folks are saying about FanHouse out there on the internets:
AOL Enters the Sports Blog “Game” [Deadspin]
AOL Beefs Up Sports With Blogs [MediaPost]
AOL Blogfest [TheStreet]
AOL Launches Sports Blog Network [Bloggers Blog]
More Sports 2.0 Sites [Earthling]
AOL Launches NFL FanHouse [Too Much Pete]
AOL Launches FanHouse Blogs for Football Enthusiasts [Trading Markets]
Finally, I couldn’t think of an image that would represent the FanHouse (although Deadspin chose to use an old AOL disc, which is funny), but, to me, this is all about having a passion for sports and sharing it with others in a unique, entertaining way. So what better to depict that than the Fun Bunch? Indeed…
Continue Reading September 1st, 2006
In 2004 I began blogging here, at Mr. Irrelevant, and there, at Pigskin Bloggers. In 2005 we began podcasting a blog-driven radio show, Sports Bloggers Live. And now, in 2006, we’ve launched what will become the largest, finest sports blogging network ever assembled, the AOL FanHouse. There’s even a press release and everything.
FanHouse began humbly earlier this week with an NFL network consisting of at least one blogger for all 32 teams as well as a few lead bloggers overseeing the whole league. The front page gets updated maybe 20 times per day with the most high-interest content and the individual team pages (case in point, Redskins FanHouse) get updated once, twice and sometimes even thrice per day. The content covers everything from Leinart having a baby to the Bachelor getting cut to Javon needling Favre and beyond.
The writers, one of whom I am not, were by and large recruited from the existing football blogging community and are exactly why this thing is so good so soon. And we’ve only just begun. The NCAA Football FanHouse launches this month and NBA, NCAA Hoops, MLB, NHL, NASCAR, Golf, Tennis, etc., etc. are to follow. So check out what we’ve got up so far and drop comments with any feedback you may have. It’s very much a work in-progress, but we’re extremely proud of it nonetheless.
Also, I’d like to thank all of the folks at AOL who pulled this off. It was an ambitious project with a tight timeline and limited resources, so much respect and gratitude to Neal Scarbrough, Kevin Lockland, Shawn Schrager, Emil Morrow, Robert Lepore, Elliott Thompson, Mike Diamond, Nicole Cosby, Felicia Perez and others for bringing it home. I’d also like to mention that this idea, this vision was something my old mentor and friend Bob Wooldridge and I discussed at length before he was gone, and I know he’d be proud to see it come to life.
Here’s what some folks are saying about FanHouse out there on the internets:
AOL Enters the Sports Blog “Game” [Deadspin]
AOL Beefs Up Sports With Blogs [MediaPost]
AOL Blogfest [TheStreet]
AOL Launches Sports Blog Network [Bloggers Blog]
More Sports 2.0 Sites [Earthling]
AOL Launches NFL FanHouse [Too Much Pete]
AOL Launches FanHouse Blogs for Football Enthusiasts [Trading Markets]
Finally, I couldn’t quite think of an image that truly represents the FanHouse (although Deadspin chose to use an old AOL disc, which is funny), but, to me, this is all about having a passion for sports and sharing it with others in a unique, entertaining way. So what better way to depict that than the Fun Bunch? Indeed…
Continue Reading September 1st, 2006
Well…that was unfun.
Team USA lost to Greece, our internal clock is all screwy from staying up to watch it, and infamous naysayer Chris Sheridan (of ESPN) is dancing on the line between smug I-told-you-so guy and martyr.
I’ve been waiting for two weeks to watch [Spain vs Argentina], looking to see which of those two powers would emerge as the standard we’d end up judging Team USA against. Numero uno and numero dos, I called them in a preview column I wrote upon my arrival in Japan, a column that generated so many dismissive, nasty and uncomprehending e-mails to my inbox that I almost got physically sick reading them over the course of this tournament.
Physically sick? C’mon dude - no you didn’t. You’re really saying you sat there reading email from strangers and almost threw up from it?
Anyway, the US got schooled every which way last night on exactly what Sheridan said they would - backdoor cuts and other simple basketball plays. They were also inept in the halfcourt. We owe the Mighty MJD $100 - and he sure as hell better really get a whore with it like he said.
As for the Finals of the World Championship, it’s Greece v Spain, and as said MJD notes, it’s gonna be an oily affair, starring the one and only Pau Gasol.
BTW something we haven’t seen mentioned is that the US needs to win the Pan-American (or whatever it is) thing next summer or we don’t even get to play in the 2008 Olympics.
Get thy shit together, lads - you were 14-34 from the line last night!
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