Letters to the Editor
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Now That's More Like It!
King-
Congratulations. This one was actually witty. Funny even. Much, much better than the whole "12th-man-trademark" column of a couple of days ago. That was a weak effort and I still await your apology.
And I agree with you. If you need bulleting board material to motivate you, you have already lost the game. That is an observation I wish more people would make. It would certainly make "Super Bowl Hype Week" a lot more entertaining.
Gavin Fritton
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Joey Porter
Here's a quote from Porter:
"I was focused on football until right now..."
That tells you all you need to know about his mindset. I can't wait to see Walter Jones (the Seahawks' left tackle who will be the best player on the field on Sunday) go after him and drive him to the cheap seats.
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A Note From Dan Rooney
The ever volatile Dan Rooney just sent me this note to proof before he sends it out to Seattle. Does anyone see any typos?
The Seahawks are pathetic. No playoff wins in 20 years before a few weeks ago. As for this year, no wonder you had 13 wins, your division included the Arizona Hebrew Home for the Aged, the St. Louis Bedwetters Society and the San Francisco 49ers. You should trade some of your players for a box of footballs, a kicking net, and some end zone paint to be named later. If I owned your team, I would have sold you years ago to the North Koreans for some surplus Kim Jong Il posters. Your TV rights should be auctioned off to ESPN 37, where the big draw is the Friday Night Sawdust Fight. Hasselpuke couldn't complete a pass to the Pacific Ocean if he was standing next to it.
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Seriously
Is there any storyline in sports more tired than the whole respect/disrespect angle? I mean it's ridiuculous. It's gotten to the point where you as an athlete pretty much have to say that your opponent is going to win, if you don't want to start controversey. I live in Chicago and before the Panthers game, Adewale Ogunleye got himself into trouble because he *gasp* predicted that his team would win. What's he supposed to say? "They'll win by 13"?
The local sports media attacked him, saying "Oh great! Now you woke them up!" Because apparently playing an NFL playoff game just doesn't do enough to get the Panthers excited. They might have given maybe 85% effort normally. But since they got disrespected, well, watch out. I watched that game and I promise you-- respect or lack thereof had nothing to do with the outcome. Steve Smith and his incredible ability, I think, had a little more to do with it than Adewale Ogunleye's comments to the media.
And now we have Joey Porter, who apparently needs "bulletin board material" to play well in the SUPER BOWL.
Good grief.
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Staged drama
Is it me or did the NFL stage this tit for tat for fear of a HUGE ratings drop for the Super Bowl?
Between last Tuesday and early Wednesday, the sports "news" journalists and anchors were reporting the days events as uneventful. Not only that, some critics charge this year's Super Bowl a dud.
Nothing is happening and no one is interested.
It's been so bad that ESPN flew Donovan McNabb to Detroit so he can discuss last Spring's T.O. mess. Terrell Owens is of course ESPN's version of 9/11/01.
So now we finally have Porter and that guy from the Seabirds talking trash?
WOOPIEEEE!!!!
It's weak! The guy did't "near guarantee" anything! I don't even think Joey Porter was that into his words.
My spread: ABC -25 ratings -40 share
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Re: Staged Drama
I think this is more of a created drama than staged. The media has created it. And King is right...there really is no controversy here. "Near gaurantee" or not, all Stevens did was say he is going to try to dash Bettis' hopes. What else is he going to try to do?
I watched for about 15 minutes (or maybe it just seemed that long, as it seems everything takes longer while on the treadmill) as ESPN pounded this topic into the ground. I kept wondering when they were going to get to the good part.
Clearly there wasn't enough for the filler in the sausage so ESPN and everyone else had to add more breadcrumbs...bland, dry, boring breadcrumbs. It may have less flavor, but at least there's more to chew on!
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Super Bowl as a metaphor for crappy consumer culture
I believe King pointed this out a while back: football season ended with the Conference championship games- its over folks and this extra week of crapola is just insulting. For alot of people, the NFL season was over when their fantasy league ended. At this point, I'm more excited about the Pro Bowl than i am about Super Bowl XL and no forced Joey Porter hystrionics is going to change that. It not about the game or the teams and definately not about the fans anymore. Its about how much the network can get for ad spots (which are more exciting than the game by half).
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sure it's all kinda of canned...
I still giggle every time Joey Porter spouts off to the media. He's good entertainment.
While I think the "bulletin board material" thing is usually just a game of silly buggers, the fact remains that Porter and Stevens will likely spend a significant amount of time staring at each other across the line of scrimmage. What this little pseudo-story has done has made everybody that much more eager to see what happens if Stevens should have a pass thrown to him in the flat.
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Poter/Stevens
So Porter mouths off again. It's kind of in his nature isn't it. Isn't he the same guy who was putting down Edgerrin James prior to the Indy game?
He likes to hit, good for him.
But before anyone feels too worried for Jerramy Stevens, keep in mind that here's a guy who pleaded guilty to assault in High School, spent some time in jail for marijuana possession.
Was accused of rape in college.
Ran his car into a retirement home in college.
Was dinged for DUI after going pro, spent a stint in jail for that if I remember right.
Don't know much about Porter, other than he was shot in the ass outside a bar a couple of years ago.
oh, and at 6'7" 265lbs, Jerramy has 4" and 15 pounds over him.
I'm not worried about Jerramy, he can hold his own.
Should be a good game.
Rich