And the 2nd comment on that linked page is this:This is on KSK now (with credit given)... way to make us all look funny!
Fuckin’ brand new Black Ops II disc is unreadable out of the box.
Makes me wanna choke a bitch.
This thread is all growns up.This is on KSK now (with credit given)... way to make us all look funny!
Nice to see you get recognition for what is really some very excellent work.Holy shit, I'm speechless.
It was 4 am, I couldn't sleep, I had no idea anybody would actually find that funny.
I fucking love KSK too, wow.
A few things.e. And for those who say to me, "Stick to sports,'' you've got the wrong guy. I won't be offended if you never click on this column again, or if you stop listening to me on radio or TV, or stop following me on Twitter. It's a free country, and we're not going to agree on everything. The media world has changed -- maybe for the better, maybe not. But it's different than the world was in 1989, when I was hired by Sports Illustrated.
A generation or two ago, a sportswriter covering the NFL might never have been asked for his opinion on anything -- he might have reported on the NFL and not been opinionated about it, but rather have been right down the middle on everything. I was hired by the magazine strictly to be a reporter and writer 23 years ago; that started to change with the advent of the internet a few years later.
Now, my job in this multi-media world is to report on events in a straightforward way in stories for Sports Illustrated -- as happened a couple of weeks ago with my cover story on the Colts -- and on NBC's Football Night in America, then to be a reporter with football opinions and personal opinions in this column and others on SI.com. And to do pretty much whatever I want on Twitter, keeping in mind my SI bosses asked me in 2009 to interact with readers for a few minutes every day. So that's my job. It's not everyone's job in this business, but it's mine. And I respect you if you think I do it poorly, or you disagree with me. It's also your option to skip over my rantings if you wish, particularly in a long column like this. There should be enough football in it for anyone. Your call.
Looking at your screen name and reading this, I wouldn't have guessed that.I'll be honest, I've never read more than a paragraph or two of the guy's writing, but I check this thread every Monday.
Why do NFL writers concede that Manning's injury last year, and the fact that he's on a new team, work in his favor? I understand it helps the narrative, but when did anything other than a player's actual performance during the season in question form the basis of who the "MVP" is in a given year?MVP and Offensive Player: Manning had one of his best seasons ever, and he had it coming off four neck procedures in two years, and while learning a new offense and a new team and all new players in an offseason governed by the new NFL Offseason Lite rules, and he lifted the Broncos from a marginal playoff team to a dominant one finishing with 11 straight wins, and it's hard to fathom not voting for him for MVP. And I had Manning as MVP until Sunday.
But this award is almost unfairly balanced to the quarterback, and will be for a long time the way the game is being played now. If you have a mind to vote for Manning, Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers -- but particularly Manning in leading a new team to the AFC's top seed -- it's easily justifiable. But the Vikings without Peterson would have been toast by Thanksgiving, Halloween maybe.
Rivers strikes me as a loudmouth idiot, so I'm not entirely sympathetic toward him here. However: without knowing more of the context of the quote (for instance, what was the question he's responding to?), I think it's fair to say that he's just trying to not kick a guy in the ass on his way out of town. It's also possible he was talking about how the fans received Turner, and that he was questioned and never supported by the press/fans from the get go. Judging from how many "Norvball" jokes I've seen on places like Deadspin and, well, here, I think that may even be a fair point. Maybe Rivers is just saying: "I hope the next guy is supported and not second guessed right away the way Norv was.""Norv never really got a fair shake. I hope the next guy gets a fair shake."
-- San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers, after the last game of Norv Turner's San Diego coaching career, to San Diego radio reporter Marty Caswell.
Philip, here's the way the NFL works: You coach a team with a good quarterback, and you go five years without winning a playoff game, well, you lose your job. You think it ought to be any different than that? You would be one sweet NFL owner, with coaches paying you to work for them.
Factoid of the Week That May Interest Only Me I
On the occasion of the last column of the regular season, I look back at the two greatest catches in New York Giants history, the 32-yard Velcro catch by David Tyree that led to the winning touchdown in Super Bowl XLII, and the 38-yard rainbow catch by Mario Manningham along the sidelines that led to the winning touchdown in Super Bowl XLVI.
Giants offensive possessions that included Tyree after the Velcro catch: 0.
Giants offensive possessions that included Manningham after the rainbow catch: 0.
Obviously, the Super Bowl in Phoenix was Tyree's last game for the Giants (he never caught another pass in his NFL career), and the Super Bowl in Indianapolis was Manningham's last game for the Giants.
With all due respect to Roberto Clemente (fuck the Steelers):Factoid of the Week That May Interest Only Me II
Dec. 31, 1972 -- 40 years ago today -- was the most heartbreaking day in the history of Pittsburgh sports. And maybe in the history of Pittsburgh. At 3:05 p.m., at Three Rivers Stadium, the Steelers walked off the field 21-17 losers in the AFC Championship Game to the Dolphins, who would go on to have the only perfect season in modern NFL history. That was just a game. Less than seven hours later, something truly horrible happened. Off the coast of San Juan, a plane ferrying beloved all-star Pirates outfielder Roberto Clemente, who was on a mission of mercy carrying supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua, crashed in the water, killing Clemente and the other four aboard the relief plane.
Rocks, glass houses, etc.h. Too many officials look too heavy to me.
Brian Costello, Jets beatman for the New York Post, saw the snowy forecast in the metropolitan area for Saturday and moved his flight from Newark to Buffalo for Jets-Bills from 3:30 p.m. Saturday to 10:30 a.m., thinking he'd beat the worst of the weather. He did. But then enough happened to him to make him the featured scribe in this week's travel note.
A good traveler, Costello got to the airport at 9 a.m. The weather looked fine, and the plane was on time, set to make the 49-minute flight to western New York. Once there, Costello would rent his car, drive to a hotel and write his Sunday preview story on the titanic tussle between a couple of teams playing for nothing.
Shortly before boarding, an announcement came that the lavatory was out of service, and maintenance would have to be called to fix it. Delay of game, two hours. "I thought the Jets season might have clogged the toilet,'' Costello said.
Passengers began to board at noon. The plane had to be de-iced, and then it began its taxi to the runway, and around 1 p.m., it appeared the flight would take off on time, despite some snow outside. But then a disturbed-looking and disturbed-acting man in 17B ("Charles Manson-like,'' Costello thought) got out of his seat. The flight attendant asked politely, and then firmly, and then firmly again, for the man to sit down. He wouldn't.
Costello was sitting in 1A. He heard the flight attendant tell the pilot about the wackjob in 17B who wouldn't sit down, and the pilot made the decision to go back to the gate. Much groaning. A United Airlines supervisor came on the plane, walked back to where Standing Man was, and escorted him off the plane. Standing Man went peacefully.
Now back at the gate, the snow increased in intensity. They weren't going anywhere for a while. While Newark Airport powers-that-be discussed whether flights would leave the airport, time passed. Finally, at 3 p.m., the pilot taxied out, there was more de-icing, and the plane took off -- at about 3:15. Costello was on the ground in Buffalo at 4:10 ... about 10 minutes before his originally booked flight would have landed.
Costello got off the plane, went to an airport bar, took out his laptop, ordered some wings, and wrote his advance. At 5:30, he went to fetch his rental car and drove to the hotel. What he took from the fun day in northeastern airports in late December: "There's no doubt this game is going to be a complete disaster."
At 9:50 a.m. Sunday, Costello tweeted: "Travel woes postscript: just opened my computer bag and there is a hat in there that's not mine. Gift from United?"
No, but I think the late John Candy was on your plane, and you just were unwittingly involved in Planes, Trains and Automobiles II.
Tweet of the Week VI
"Brings new meaning to the term 'the whole nine yards.' "
-- @LATimesfarmer, football writer Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times, just after Adrian Peterson finished nine yards shy of breaking Eric Dickerson's single-season rushing record.
Well, for one it's listed under 'things [you] didn't like about week 17', so, I think it's safe to say that you DIDN'T like it.2. I think this is what I didn't like about Week 17:
a. Not sure whether to like or dislike this, but it's so Patriot to announce the whacking of disappointing 2009 second-rounder Ron Brace at 5:44 p.m. on a Saturday evening of Week 17.
Is King a fan of bats or something? The movie only references bats once, at the very end, and it has no significance on the plot. Just a really weird thing to point out; like saying "I really liked 'Goodfellas', particularly the way the main character doesn't like egg noodles and ketchup."c. Saw two movies over the holidays. Silver Linings Playbook I liked a lot; Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence were superb, and the story felt real. And I saw on a movie channel Contagion, the doomy Matt Damon/Laurence Fishburne job. Liked that one too, particularly the way the contagion is researched and sourced back to bats.
I feel ya, King. It takes so long for the cashier at Starbucks to pick up pre-wrapped biscotti from the little jar and ring it up.g. Coffeenerdness: Just my luck Sunday to get behind the Parisians with the $47 order in line at Starbucks in Manhattan. They must love that bisciotti. Got nine of them.
The End
Among those we lost in a particularly sad year for deaths:
Oh, is that who that was?Neil Armstrong, astronaut and fiercely private citizen who uttered the first words from the first step on the moon: "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
I'll give him this one, I had no idea who this woman was, or that she had died. And that anecdote is kind of neat, although I'm not sure it's really what she would want to be remembered for, fucking up a line to a song.Fontella Bass, soul and pop singer, singer of one of the great songs of the '60s, Rescue Me, which, to my amazement, was in part messed up (brilliantly, as it turns out) by Bass when, in the studio, she forgot some of the words and said, "Mmm-hmmm,'' in place of the words she forgot. Remember? It was around the time when she sang, "Can't you see that I'm lonely,'' and she forgot the next words "Take me baby'' and while she was thinking of them, she threw in a couple of Mmm-hmmms,'' and it worked out great.
Dude won an Oscar and an Emmy (at age 92!). But what he's really worth being remembered for is that Peter King liked one of his less acclaimed TV shows.Ernest Borgnine, actor. McHale's Navy was a big hit in the King household.
King's memorial to Bradbury, however, tops out at a lukewarm 73.5 degrees; the temperature at which coffee becomes cold and gross.Ray Bradbury, writer. Not a science-fiction guy, but I did enjoy Fahrenheit 451 in high school.
...such as? Hello?Dave Brubeck, composer, musician. Authored and performed so many songs we don't even know are his.
Don Cornelius, Soul Train conductor. How great is Jeff Pearlman's story of Walter Payton and a partner appearing in a dance contest on Soul Train in 1973 when he was a Jackson State student, and finishing second out of 50 couples from across the country?
I know we're tempted to assume that King knows that we know that Houston was so much more than this, but...judging from his other tributes, I don't think we can afford him that assumption. I think he really believes that this was Houston's greatest contribution to the world. Which is kind of insane.Whitney Houston, singer of the best National Anthem I've ever heard, at the Gulf War Super Bowl, Giants-Bills, in January 1991.
Dude, you have Larry Hagman and the woman who sang that one song ("Rescue Me") on this list. If you left off Davy Jones, who was probably more famous in his day than maybe 3-4 people you've listed, you'd be a fucking idiot. I also love that King continues to be defensive about having liked the Monkees when he was, what? 11? He's totally afraid people are going to make fun of him.Davy Jones, Monkey. Okay, maybe I'm overrating the Monkeys by putting Jones in this list, but they were BIG for three or four years of my youth.
Now this guy, you maybe could have left off the list.Joe Paterno, football coach. Incredible career, good man, very sad end.
Jesus, that's just horrible.Donna Summer, singer. She worked hard for the money.
"...of which, I have read none of."Gore Vidal, incredibly prolific writer.
The End
Among those we lost in a particularly sad year for deaths:
Manning as MVP and Denver to the Super Bowl? Wow.
He's definitely got a man-crush on Peyton. MVP and AFC Champ.
So, my theory is he's just trolling everyone for clicks and to make people talk about him. Even if he's wrong, he can say he went for the "bold pick", and in the statement he couched things quite a bit.
He's mentally ill.
He's not trolling. Remember, this is a guy who bases everything on his own eyes. He's old school scouting, baby.
He's also not smart enough to be aware of people who are public relations-ing him, and he's not self aware enough to contrast what he has seen with what he hasn't seen.
Basically he buys into bullshit - we know this - if a player or coach or team pander to him via tweets, text messages, special access open days and spends the time taking his inane Peter King questions seriously and replying with 'Peter, you are absolutely correct, that's exactly what we are doing' before adding a football cliche like '... and here I feel great, we have a great team, we're fighting as one, guys are int he best shape of their lives, etc etc'.
He spent a day watching his new Favre binky, Manning, and ate every spoonful of shit he was fed. And now he's convinced that his own special football brain has seen what no one else has seen - Manning is going to lead that team to every level of Glory.
What a jackass!So, if you recall, King has been trumpeting the fact that he thinks the Broncos will win the Superbowl. This seems odd, given, well... a lot of things.
Let's give King some benefit of the doubt and that "BobGriff" is actually a nickname that's in some usage somewhere. But does the average MMQB know that? Or is King using it in an attempt to earn Fonzie Cool Points over those fools who still say RG3?BobGriff v Wilson
Wild Card dream is coming true.
Will Obama watch?
You can't possibly be suggesting that when making preseason MVP predictions, King would identify the Broncos as a good team, but when making MVP picks after the season he would trump up Manning's accomplishments by describing the Broncos as a marginal playoff team.I may be misremembering, but the part of his prediction that was especially galling to me was his assertion that Manning had "arguably" his best supporting cast ever. And this is classic Peter King, throwing out a statement like that then neglecting to actually make the argument, because I would've loved to hear how any combination of the Broncos skills players this year match the talent of Harrison/Wayne/Stokely/Clark plus Edge James.
What exactly is a "Bizarro Jerry" team? What he described is just inconsistent performance. If King was trying to make a Seinfeld reference, perhaps "Even Steven" would be more appropriate. He doesn't get the Bizarro concept at all.New York Giants (9-7). Bizarro Jerry Team of the Year. Last four: win by 25, lose by 34, lose by 19, win by 35.
This is amazing. You really couldn't even make this one up if you tried.Don Cornelius, Soul Train conductor. How great is Jeff Pearlman's story of Walter Payton and a partner appearing in a dance contest on Soul Train in 1973 when he was a Jackson State student, and finishing second out of 50 couples from across the country?
http://twitter.com/SI_PeterKing/status/285761817605705728Stop telling me, "You can't compare anyone to Peterson and what he did." Yes we can. It's our job to compare, then pick the winner.
None of which is supported by United's flight logs, by the way. I only mention it because of shit like this:Ok, to summarize: Guy sees that there might be bad weather, re-books for an earlier flight, there are some delays, but he gets to his destination when he needs to be there.
Wow. Fucking riveting.
His partner's name was Mary "Bullet" Jones. Would it have killed King to just google the story and drop her name in here? She's a fucking person with a name."Let me fondly recall Don Cornelius by referencing an obscure anecdote about someone else entirely."Don Cornelius, Soul Train conductor. How great is Jeff Pearlman's story of Walter Payton and a partner appearing in a dance contest on Soul Train in 1973 when he was a Jackson State student, and finishing second out of 50 couples from across the country?
The guy thinks Shankapotamus is a verb.What exactly is a "Bizarro Jerry" team? What he described is just inconsistent performance. If King was trying to make a Seinfeld reference, perhaps "Even Steven" would be more appropriate. He doesn't get the Bizarro concept at all.
I have a nice headache after reading that. His ability to find such vapid stories to tell is impressive.Ok, to summarize: Guy sees that there might be bad weather, re-books for an earlier flight, there are some delays, but he gets to his destination when he needs to be there.
Wow. Fucking riveting.
Exactly. His premise was: if the Bronco defense is decent, then with Peyton having these all-time great weapons on offense they'll make the Super Bowl. King didn't even have the guts to say it more firmly than - "there's a possibility that [Peyton] could have the best set of skill players he's had in his life." It's not difficult to argue that they're actually the worst set because Peyton was consistently surrounded by many great skill players on the Colts. Regardless, King never bothered to explain why he likes this Bronco cast so much or compare them to the best Colt cast in his eyes. Instead of discussing why he thought the Broncos were a great team, he lazily gave an opinion without attempting to support it as usual.I may be misremembering, but the part of his prediction that was especially galling to me was his assertion that Manning had "arguably" his best supporting cast ever. And this is classic Peter King, throwing out a statement like that then neglecting to actually make the argument, because I would've loved to hear how any combination of the Broncos skills players this year match the talent of Harrison/Wayne/Stokely/Clark plus Edge James.
Is it really Pearlman's story if Payton was on a national TV show?This is amazing. You really couldn't even make this one up if you tried.
I'd say he looks good in the way that a football pundit looks good when he picks against the chalk and then his choice goes 13-3 and earns home field advantage throughout the playoffs. The Broncos didn't get the #1 seed by having their name pulled out of a hat. They actually won 13 games.Picking the Broncos in the preseason wasn't a terrible pick, but it was quite questionable. Yes, he looks good now... in the same way that a Hold 'em player who goes in with a mediocre hand looks good after a lucky flop. How hindered would Peyton be at age 36 by his recovery from neck surgeries? Would he be able to stay healthy? How long would it take for their offense to gel? Obviously, those were serious issues heading into the season. The Patriots, Texans, Ravens, and Steelers were the popular picks in the AFC, and rightfully so, because they didn't have their hopes riding on a single player with significant concerns. King played a flimsy hand with deficient reasoning and got lucky on the flop. Good for him, I guess.
Except he might as well have pulled their name out of a hat for all the shrewd insight he put into it.The Broncos didn't get the #1 seed by having their name pulled out of a hat. They actually won 13 games.