AM Abbott Lines, 7/8
So here’s what you do, Dolphins: You do what Green Bay isn’t doing. You welcome Favre back to football. You trade lame-duck Jason Taylor (whom the Packers have coveted) to get him. You put McCown up for sale. And then you let Beck and Henne develop for a year under the unhurried tutelage of a master — thereby being as good a team as you can be right now while also letting the roots take on future success at that position. …
The ”he-should-go-out-a-Packer” sentiment hardly fits, either. He surely would, if there were indications the Pack wanted him back. But there aren’t. Besides, Favre would hardly be setting precedent. Johnny Unitas went out a Charger, Joe Namath a Ram and Joe Montana a Chief. Did Michael Jordan finish as a Bull? Oh, and Dan Marino came very, very close to signing with the Vikings in 2000, by the way. ~ Greg Cote, Miami Herald, Getting Favre makes sense for Dolphins, 7/8
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Each year otherwise stable men have their brains scrambled by the 100-question officials’ test LeMonnier co-authored for USA Football. The test is the SAT of officiating — so highly regarded and deviously concocted that several major conferences require their officials to take it before getting on the field each season. My reason? It killed an afternoon in the dead of summer. …
You must take the test, by the way, because there has to be someone out there who scored worse than me:
Forty-six.
That’s another way of saying I got 54 wrong. Less than half right. That’s a failing grade from here to South Bend. Translated into Wonderlic terms, I’m more Dan Marino (who reportedly got a 14 of 50 correct) than Drew Henson (a reported 42). …The test will tax your mind and cut into your free time. Set aside at least an hour — for question No. 40 alone. It is a 118-word brain teaser about a sequence that includes a fumble, a recovery, an incidental facemask and a replay review. ~ Dennis Dodd, CBS Sportsline, Pop quiz, hot shot! It’s official, the zebras are good, 7/8 (click through to take the test yourself)
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Even though Bowlen has been criticized, chastised and castigated over coaching and player decisions (his loyalty to Mike Shanahan and his spending on free agents who lacked talent or character, or both), the push for construction of a new stadium (with the majority of the funding from public sources), frequent ticket-price increases, occasional poorly chosen remarks, the Broncos are in a far, far better place because of Bowlen, his ownership and his stewardship. …
Not everyone loves Patrick. The bar has been set a mile high, and nobody here, especially Bowlen, accepts a level, especially low, playing field. Maybe he’s gotten tired of wasting money on dregs Travis Henry and Javon Walker and has pulled back, and maybe he’s having economic issues. Maybe Bowlen has learned from nearly a decade of mediocrity (with the exception of the 2005 appearance in the AFC championship game), and maybe he’s getting ready for No. 25, No. 251, No. 3 and No. 65.
But his numbers up to now have been impressive. Bowlen will be considered one day for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. ~ Woody Paige, Denver Post, Bowlen deserves lofty cred, 7/8
I’d think Thompson would take a few minutes out from his vacation to talk to a guy who has done more for the franchise than anyone since Vince Lombardi, but apparently not. Anyway, we don’t know what the content of the text was, but the implication is that Favre wants to talk about a possible comeback, while Thompson wants to talk about nothing of the sort. ~ Michael David Smith, AOL Fanhouse, Brett Favre Texts Packers GM Ted Thompson, Told They’ll Have to Talk, 7/8
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Non-football:
There are two arguments I’ve made on this blog that have been ridiculed. The first arose when the Orioles were beaten by the Texas Rangers by the score of 30-3 last August. I argued that at least the humiliating defeat made the Orioles relevant, and that the Nats couldn’t buy a headline. Watch SportsCenter and tell me how many Nats highlights you see, and you’ll start to see it my way. The second argument was that the Nats wouldn’t last a decade in Washington. I’m still sticking by that one. ~ J-Red, East Coast Bias, CDC Celebrates - Nats’ Fever Eradicated, 7/8
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Anyone read Rick Reilly’s latest effort? Last week, the $17 million man piggybacked on a months-old Toronto Star story that claimed 60 percent of NBA players are bankrupt five years after exiting the league, and spun it into some humorous tips for rookies.
However, based on the front-page ESPN headline: “Let’s face it: You will never be a top-50 NBA player. But you can spend money like one. Just follow this sound advice,” a copy editor somewhere in Bristol helped perpetrate a negative stereotype about the NBA that actually applies to all athletes.
Forget for a moment that the The Star’s 60 percent stat has been disputed ad nauseum. What’s mildly annoying is that Reilly drilled athletes from baseball (Jack Clark), track & field (Marion Jones), boxing (Evander Holyfield), hockey (Darren McCarthy) and golf (John Daly) for squandering money. So why’d the NBA get singled out in the headline?
As a reader wrote: “Why isn’t it just “athletes”? Why the NBA? … is it because basketball players are the racial stereotype who would seem most likely to live so lavishly they’d stupidly blow their cash and the premise of the joke column is best based on a stereotype?” ~ The Big Lead, Perpetrate the Negative NBA Stereotype, 7/8
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Let the ridiculous mistake of a first pick chatter begin. You can expect the some of the pathetic sports fans that inhabit my hometown to have already ruled [Derrick Rose] a bust. ~ CriticalFanatic, FanIQ, Let The Overreaction Summer Leagues Begin, 7/8
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Got any good lines from your favorite writer or blog—or maybe your own? Send them over.
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