Remember the glory days of 2008, when the Tennessee Titans were 10-0 and looked to be a surging AFC power? They had a killer defense and two strong young running backs, and it seemed like they were only going to get better as the playoffs loomed. Well, those days are gone.In their past four games, the Titans are 2-2. Their victories were over the Lions and Browns, two teams that might have
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Big 12 Teams Play No Defense, Sooners' Dominance Based on Skewed Statistics
Posted on 7:01 AM by ergeg
Oklahoma is hanging its claim on a shot at the national championship based in large part on the fact that they have scored more than 60 points in each of their past four games. It’s evidence, says coach Bob Stoops, of momentum and superiority. We won’t dispute that the Sooners are swamping their opponents, but do points mean dominance when you play in a conference where nobody plays any defense??
Monday, December 1, 2008
Musburger's Misquote of Famous Rickey Aphorism Leads Weekend Media Hits
Posted on 5:37 PM by ergeg
Brent Musburger bit the big one over the weekend. While broadcasting the Oklahoma-Oklahoma State football game on Saturday night for ABC, dumb ol’ Brent misquoted the great baseball executive Branch Rickey. Trying his darndest to be “eloquent,” and make a relevant quip germane to the game action, Brent burst forth excitedly with this gem, “As Branch Rickey once said, ‘Luck is the residue of...
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
The Tuesday Morning Quarterback: NFL Week #12 Winners and Losers
Posted on 1:49 AM by ergeg
The beat goes on, but at the moment we're no closer to declaring anyone officially in the playoffs yet. What is official is that Monday Night Football's Tony Kornholer remains an alien presence on the airwaves. And we finally figured out why this sports media loser is a worthless POS. It's not that he doesn't really know anything about football (even though he doesn't), or the fact that his dour
Monday, November 17, 2008
The Tuesday Morning Quarterback: NFL Week #11 Winners and Losers
Posted on 11:01 PM by ergeg
Time to check in on the progress, or lack thereof, of NFL teams. Maybe four squads—Titans, Giants, Panthers, Cardinals—can be said to be definitely zeroing in on playoff berths. Otherwise, there are serious shades of gray still left out there. There are plenty of contenders, but an equal number of pretenders. Here’s a summary of what everyone did this past weekend, and where they all look to be
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
MNF Still Sucks, But It's Not the Game That's to Blame
Posted on 2:45 AM by ergeg
Did you watch Monday Night Football on ESPN the other night? Did you hear Tony Kornholer being a consummate, uninformed and boring ass? Did you cringe a little when Mike Tirico went into his high-pitched "soft-male" pseudo-thoughtful observations? Did you think Ron Jaworski (aka "Jaws") went overboard on the macho-man scale, with his "insider" meathead talk about how coaches who are former NFL
Lincecum Gets Cy; Lidge Gets Jobbed
Posted on 2:19 AM by ergeg
Congrats to Tim Lincecum, the amazing, and highly entertaining, San Francisco Giants hurler who won the National League Cy Young Award on Tuesday. Lincecum deserved this honor, and it's nice to see the baseball writers paying attention to high achievement on a team that otherwise achieved little and merited little attention. Lincecum is awesome, without doubt. Cases could have been made for
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Obama's Dream Team: Oprah, Athletes to Join in Cause to Save America
Posted on 11:32 AM by ergeg
And now it is done. We’ve elected a president who claims that he plans to levy new taxes only on the wealthiest 5% of Americans. This is good. It guarantees money in the federal coffers, it will sustain the needs of the remaining 95% of us who are not so fortunate, and it appropriately penalizes a lot of people in America who have no earthly right to be that rich. Like Oprah Winfrey. Where else
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Black Athletes Victims in Their Own Communities: When Will It Stop?
Posted on 2:51 AM by ergeg
ESPN.com headline: Doctors: Collier paralyzed below waist, one leg had to be amputated Jacksonville Jaguars offensive tackle Richard Collier joins the late Sean Taylor and Darrent Williams as the latest pro-athlete victim of black-on-black violence. Last year, when I wrote about Taylor’s tragic death, I received quite a bit of mail from readers who claimed that I was racist to suggest that
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
NASCAR (Is) for Dummies
Posted on 4:54 PM by ergeg
sport noun1. an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment : “team sports such as baseball and soccer” | [as adj. ] ( sports) “a sports center.”So, the question put before us today is, Is NASCAR a sport?Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was on Dan Patrick’s FOX radio show Wednesday. Dan asked him, “Would your dad [the late
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
The Tuesday Morning Quarterback: NFL Week #1 Recap
Posted on 12:06 AM by ergeg
Verbal wanderings, from the field to the broadcast booth:1. Hats off to the Falcons! The new and improved backfield, featuring rookie QB Matt Ryan and RB Michael Turner, looked potent in a sound defeat of the (admittedly) lax Lions. And no dogs were injured in the making of the “W.”2. The TV networks should be ashamed of themselves for foisting on the American public some of the most
Monday, September 1, 2008
Injuries, Roster Changes and Rookies Make for Difficult 2008 NFL Predictions
Posted on 9:55 PM by ergeg
Preseason NFL games are meaningless in the standings. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have meaning. Guys get hurt in ’em (the Giants’ Osi Umenyiora, lost for the season). Improbable faces excel and gain unlikely starting roles (J. T. O’Sullivan, 49ers). Most of all, we get a first glimpse at the raw talent of incoming rookies who might alter the fortunes of their teams (Falcons’ Matt Ryan,
Monday, August 25, 2008
10 Reasons Why I’m Glad the Olympics Is (Are) Over
Posted on 5:28 AM by ergeg
1. China is a fascist-looking place masquerading as an “emerging world power.” 2. Every time I turned on the TV, NBC was showing volleyball. Who needs volleyball?3. The “Redeem Team” was a stupid concept. Fielding an Olympic squad of NBA players—the greatest professional players on the planet—is not what the Olympics are about. It was a dumb idea when it started with the “Dream Team,” and it’s
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Where Old Quarterbacks Go to Die
Posted on 4:12 PM by ergeg
Babe Parilli, Jeff Blake, Jack Trudeau, Boomer Esiason, Bubby Brister, Frank Reich, Neil O’Donnell, Vinny Testaverde, Rick Mirer, Quincy Carter, Jay Fiedler, Patrick Ramsey. They all put in time with the New York Jets, either at the end, or in the middle, of careers that had already peaked (or hardly ever were). Which is why Brett Favre’s move to the Big Apple has the ominous ringings of “aging
Monday, June 30, 2008
Random (but Pertinent) Baseball Musings
Posted on 9:11 PM by ergeg
There’s dumb stuff happening in baseball, both on the field and in the ESPN studios. Time to weigh in and set the world right, even though the dummies won’t listen. On the media front:I don’t watch ESPN’s “Baseball Tonight” all the time. But lately I’ve gotten way too good a gander (and an earful) of Eduardo Perez, the Worldwide Leader’s latest pathetic dumbass diversity/ex-jock hire. Well, check
Monday, June 16, 2008
Negotiating the Weekend Media(te) Wasteland
Posted on 5:32 PM by ergeg
REPENT! THE END IS NEAR!Golfer Rocco Mediate, a normal-seeming, likable, straight-shooting average guy, received a strange brand of media mistreatment this past weekend at the U.S. Open in San Diego. Mediate, a 23-year vet of the pro tour, pushed the great Tiger Woods into an 18-hole playoff and then, when that didn't decide things, into sudden death, eventually losing the final hole. Mediate
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
You Betta' Be Talkin' 'Bout His Mama: Casino Drive Has a Womb with a View on the Belmont
Posted on 12:08 PM by ergeg
By Steve Brady[BELMONT UPDATE 6/7/08: Casino Drive, the second favorite in the Belmont Stakes, was scratched from the race. The colt suffered a stone bruise at some unknown point since arriving in Elmont, N.Y., in late April. Casino Drive reportedly will be returning to Japan to continue his career.] Big Brown (looking majestically big and brown, left) had another stunning victory in the
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Soccer versus Gum Surgery (I'll Take the Latter)
Posted on 12:18 PM by ergeg
I went to the dentist today. The last of several appointments involving deep-tissue cleaning of my gums. I’m doing what I can to stave off the prospect of actual surgery. So now I have prescription mouthwash that’ll melt the top layer of metal off a Sherman tank, and I’m trying to get good about flossing (rots o’ ruck) and using this weird little gum massager they gave me. It was an early
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Torre Could Be Facing Facts: Jones a Dodger Liability
Posted on 3:07 AM by ergeg
During the baseball offseason, the Los Angeles Dodgers signed former Atlanta Braves slugger Andruw Jones to a two-year $36.2 million contact. Too bad they didn’t just hold on to that money. It would have made a nice donation to the poor devils in Burma and China beset by natural disasters. And the psychic return on that would have been considerably higher than the impact Jones has had on the
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Just "Show-vive," Baby! Preakness Bettors Look for Money in the Wake of Big Brown's Expected First-Place Finish
Posted on 9:45 PM by ergeg
By Steve Brady[LATE-BREAKING NEWS: Behindatthebar was scratched on Friday from Saturday's 133d Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course because of a bruise in his left front foot. Behindatthebar trained early Friday morning at Belmont Park, but trainer Todd Pletcher said he was not satisfied with the way his horse galloped. The foot bruise was subsequently detected. Behindatthebar will now be
Do the Right Thing—Let Rose In
Posted on 7:42 AM by ergeg
I woke up today and realized that I missed Pete Rose’s birthday. It was a month ago today, April 14. I always remembered Rose’s birthday (4/14/41) because it was printed on the back of his baseball card many years ago—as birthdates always were and are—and for some goshdarn reason it stuck in my head. (I also remembered Frank Howard’s—8/8/36—but not the way I remembered Pete’s.)Pete is 67 now.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Barbara Walters—Auditioning for Tackiness
Posted on 10:06 AM by ergeg
My brilliant brother Steve has an excellent expression: “We’re gonna die just in time.” Alas, in the case of the publication of Barbara Walters’ memoir, Audition, we all missed the death deadline and now have to suffer through the ugly media coverage of what sounds like utter rubbish, including Walters’ revelation that she had an affair with former Massachusetts senator Edward Brooke. (Where’s
Thursday, May 1, 2008
The 134th Kentucky Derby—Can Big Brown Deliver?
Posted on 2:26 PM by ergeg
By Steve Brady The first Saturday in May is upon us, and once again I attempt to untangle the mysteries of the Kentucky Derby, once and always a chaotic race. There are a couple of stories to keep an eye on in this year’s Run for the Roses.The story off the track is the same one taking place in every other aspect of modern life—the availability of free information provided on the web.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Four Years to Grade a Draft, Says Fisher—So Here's the Grade on 2004
Posted on 9:45 PM by ergeg
“Seems like every year you have to remind people, 'Why don't you grade this draft four years from now?' That is how you grade drafts." That was Tennessee Titans head coach Jeff Fisher after this past weekend’s NFL Draft. “If anybody wants to grade us, so be it.''Well, a lot of people did, Jeff. No one gave you an A. More often it was, like, C-. Or D. But we want to be fair and play it your way.
Titans '08 Draft Reflections, Plus a Look at the ECU Pedigree
Posted on 3:27 PM by ergeg
New Tennessee Titans #1 draft choice Chris Johnson hails from East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. With his 4.24 speed in the 40-yard dash, Johnson is definitely gifted, and if things work out, he’ll add an exciting dimension to the Titans’ needful offense. (Vince Young clearly not being exciting enough. Unless you think Chinese fire drills are exciting.) Johnson also is a
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Titans' Early Draft Picks Add More Puzzlement to Off-Season Maneuvering
Posted on 2:58 AM by ergeg
ESPN’s John Clayton categorizes the Titans as one of the NFL Draft’s “first-round losers.” I’m inclined to agree.Like everyone else in Nashville, I sure hope first-rounder Chris Johnson (#24 overall) turns out to be a winner. The guy’s lightning fast. His footage is impressive as hell. (Go plug his name into YouTube.) What’s weird is that he wasn’t showing up on any common lists of elite running
Monday, April 14, 2008
Moyer Proves Resilient, Keeps Winning with Junk
Posted on 4:26 PM by ergeg
I’m not that big a fan of Tim McCarver as a baseball announcer. He’s pretty obvious and cliche-ridden. He’s more like an ombudsman for baseball, rather than an original voice. His rap is also riddled with a lot of what I call “manly jock crap.” However, I am a big fan of McCarver’s syndicated Sunday night interview program (broadcast locally on Nashville’s ABC affiliate, Channel 2). McCarver
Democratic Political Follies: "Just Folks" Hillary and Obama's Holy Man
Posted on 2:24 AM by ergeg
Sometimes it’s hard to resist getting into the political fray.I had to laugh heartily the other day when I learned of Hillary Rodham Clinton telling stories about her youthful visits to her family’s summer home in Scranton, Pa. Hillary wants to win Pennsylvania (in the worst way), and she proves this by trying to link her past to Scranton, a Middle American town with blue-collar leanings. I also
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
NCAA Showdown: Memphis Blows It; Kansas Claims Victory "Lite"
Posted on 12:05 AM by ergeg
Well, Memphis blew it. They were the better team, they had a legit lead, they could’ve iced it easily with free throws, then didn’t, then should’ve fouled the Kansas guy who brought in the inbounds pass before he dumped it off to Chalmers, the kid who hit the trey to send it into overtime.Yeah, Kansas is a very good team, and I won’t say they didn’t deserve to win, but it looked like CBS-TV’s Jim
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Metro Nashville's Board of Zoning Appeals: Esteemed Citizenry as Sport
Posted on 7:25 PM by ergeg
I love watching sports on TV. Football, baseball, basketball usually. But there are sports of another kind on Nashville’s local Metro 3 cable channel, which broadcasts the various official board meetings of municipal government. Sometimes these meetings are as contentious as any sporting event—and hence sometimes just as dramatic, entertaining and fraught with intrigue. But unlike a sporting
Early Season Baseball Notes
Posted on 2:07 AM by ergeg
Capitol Start—The Washington Nationals have a beautiful new baseball stadium, and are off to a 3-0 start. Gifted third baseman Ryan Zimmerman has hit two home runs, and both have been game-winners. Questions remain about the pitching here, especially with closer Chad Cordero still injured, plus the starters—Odalis Perez? Matt Chico? Tim Redding?—have to prove they’re for real. There’s hope in
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
The Rookie: Still Inspiring Belief in Baseball, Even When We Know the Awful Truth
Posted on 2:36 AM by ergeg
I saw The Rookie last night for the second time. I liked it a ton the first time, and it still holds up. It still moves the viewer. John Lee Hancock directed this 2002 biopic starring Dennis Quaid as Jimmy Morris, who made his major league baseball debut at the age of 35.Drafted out of high school in 1983 by the Milwaukee Brewers, Morris bounced around the minors for six years, then chucked it
Monday, March 24, 2008
Chalk Talk: When NCAA Brackets Bleed Davidson Red
Posted on 3:58 AM by ergeg
If you’re anything like me, you have an NCAA bracket stained with blood. Mine, I’m afraid, is probably redder than most. I play a limited chalk (higher-seed) game. In the opening round, I mostly pick favorites, but I leave some leeway for teams that I think will surprise.The bracketeer who went strictly chalk in the first round this year would’ve ended up 25-7 in the first 32 games. I was 23-9,
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
March Mudness: Clarifying the Murky NCAA Field for Stalwart Bracketeers
Posted on 3:03 PM by ergeg
Yes, I’m going to fill out an NCAA bracket. No, I’m not going to share it with the world. It’ll be tough enough to deal with my failed projected upsets in private, much less have the international blogosphere be privy to ‘em. Instead, I’m going to share my wisdom about this year’s teams. I’ve crunched a lot of data in the past few days, and I think I have some worthy observations that might help
Monday, March 3, 2008
Titans Get Crumpler While Key Linemen Leave En Masse
Posted on 11:21 PM by ergeg
After the opening weekend of NFL free agency, some Tennessee Titans fans are scratching their heads. I’m with ‘em. I don’t know when I’ve ever seen three veteran defensive linemen up and leave a team so quickly, all at the same time. In the blink of an eye, defensive end Antwan Odom, defensive tackle Randy Starks and defensive end Travis Laboy all signed new contracts with other teams. They were
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
SUPER TUESDAY SPECIAL: The Sheeple Have Spoken
Posted on 1:53 AM by ergeg
There are primaries yet to come, and it’s a long way out till the party conventions in summer. Still, after yesterday’s Super Tuesday contests, it might fairly be said that the “sheeple” (pictured, left) have spoken. Prospects for the wannabes shifted but didn’t effectively change. Save for Mitt Romney, who surely is dead mutton no matter how hard he says he intends to keep fighting. His big
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Alway$ Follow the Money: Who’$ Giving What to the Politico$, Tenne$$ee Edition
Posted on 4:42 AM by ergeg
Ever wonder about those vast sums of political money that keep flowing in to campaign coffers? I know I do. Mainly ‘cause I can’t afford to give hardly a penny. With football season out of the way, and sports in general in the doldrums until March Madness, we’re going to get more political around here, and that means introducing you—if you’re not yet hip—to FundRace2008.Thanks to the
Monday, February 4, 2008
Super Bowl Dumb Stuff
Posted on 1:07 PM by ergeg
Great Super Bowl. Loved every minute of it. I had a very dispassionate but totally sincere interest in the game. If the Giants won, we had a cool upset. If the Pats won, we had history. Once the Pats took a 14-10 lead late in the fourth quarter, I kinda thought it was over, and I was all for history. When the Giants kept battling in their final drive, I thought, “Well, if they can pull it out,
Friday, February 1, 2008
A Bill Belichick Fantasy; plus, the SMA Super Bowl Prediction
Posted on 8:17 AM by ergeg
[University of Phoenix Stadium. Glendale, Arizona. February 3, 2008. The New England Patriots locker room. Minutes prior to Super Bowl XLII.]Bill Belichick: Well, fellas, here we are. One game away from perfection. 19-0. Where no man has gone before. At this point, after this long season—including some early-season BS that cost me half a million dollars—it seems like there really is nothing more
Friday, January 25, 2008
ESPN Responds...Sort of...
Posted on 11:24 AM by ergeg
A copy of yesterday's Sports Media America story on Dana Jacobson was forwarded to ESPN. Following is the network's response: Thank you taking the time to write. Ms. Jacobson's inappropriate comments were delivered in the context of Notre Dame football and its Touchdown Jesus icon. They were wrong and inexcusable, and she was suspended from her duties. Her uncharacteristic behavior was not aimed
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Many a Truth Said in Jest: ESPN's Jacobson Strikes a Blow for Anti-Catholics Everywhere
Posted on 10:03 AM by ergeg
"F**k Notre Dame." "F**k Touchdown Jesus." "F**k Jesus." And with those words, uttered under the influence of tongue- and mind-loosening alcohol, ESPN’s Dana Jacobson has helped to expose the longstanding—but long ignored—American bigotry against Roman Catholics.Jacobson’s recent drunken tirade at an ESPN roast for the overly ambitious and minimally talented duo of Greenberg and Golic confirms
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Tabloid Thinking: Golfweek’s “Noose” Cover Reveals Dimwitted Editorial Reach
Posted on 7:37 PM by ergeg
ESPN’s Thursday afternoon “Outside the Lines” feature, with Bob Ley, addressed the hubbub surrounding the “noose” cover on the latest issue of Golfweek magazine. It all started last week, of course, when Golf Channel broadcaster Kelly Tilghman (left) used the word lynch while discussing, with partner Nick Faldo, the steps Tiger Woods’ foes could take to stop him from winning all the time. “Lynch
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Conference Championships Weekend: Great Stories with Interesting Angles Abound in AFC, NFC Matchups
Posted on 7:25 PM by ergeg
While we all scratch our heads trying to figure out why the federal government is spending our hard-earned money holding congressional hearings into major league baseball’s drug problems—Would they bring in the CEO of Ford Motor Co. if a lot of assembly-line workers were taking HGH? Would they haul in Rupert Murdoch if his media conglomerate had a big steroid problem? Didn’t the NFL prove that
Monday, January 7, 2008
Divisional Playoffs Weekend: Home-Field Sweep a Distinct Possibility
Posted on 8:52 PM by ergeg
If kicker Shaun Suisham doesn’t miss that field goal in last weekend’s Redskins-Seahawks battle, Washington takes a 17-13 lead and has sufficient momentum to knock off Seattle. It didn’t happen. That left us 3-1 on the wild-card predictions. Our pride is a little wounded, but heck, we’ll take a .750 percentage anytime. We’re looking for the home-field sweep in the divisionals. Too many good
An Open Letter to Barack Obama
Posted on 9:24 AM by ergeg
Dear Mr. Obama, They say your ascent to the Democratic nomination for the presidency of the United States is practically a foregone conclusion. I suppose congratulations are in order. One primary win in Iowa and you have been fitted for an impressive temporary crown, and in fact there are other so-called experts who claim that we’re already breathing the air of inevitability: that you may very
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Fisher Deserves Better: Titans Coach Bushwhacked by Ailing, Failing Offense
Posted on 11:58 PM by ergeg
After Sunday’s 17-6 loss to the San Diego Chargers, one can only imagine what Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher will do when he first finds some quiet, peaceful moments alone. He might sit heavily in his favorite chair, look skyward, close his eyes, and mutter to himself, “Lord, if only I had an offense...”For the second time in five weeks, Fisher’s squad lost a physical battle to the Chargers,
Friday, January 4, 2008
An Open Letter to Hillary Rodham Clinton
Posted on 10:23 PM by ergeg
Dear Ms. Clinton, I’ve been watching you on C-SPAN and other cable news outlets. Today I saw you addressing some New Hampshirites in your typically strident fashion, one day after your disappointing finish in the Iowa caucuses. A very strange feeling came over me. I actually felt sorry for you. I’ve decided to explore these feelings, for my own psychological benefit and also possibly for your own
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Wild Card Weekend: Sentimental Favorites Have Their Work Cut Out for Them
Posted on 9:27 AM by ergeg
I grew up in Washington, D.C.—a rabid Redskins fan. Now I hang my hat in Nashville—a rabid Titans fan. Both teams made it into the NFL playoffs as #6-seed wild cards in their respective conferences, and there’s the temptation to place heart before head when evaluating their prospects. But a prognosticator cannot enter the process as a partisan fan. It’s a clear-cut conflict of interest. So now,
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