I Hate This Weekend Every Year

The weekend before the Super Bowl is often a stern reminder that football is going to end very soon, and sports fans will enter the vortex of blandness (i.e. Toby Flenderson from The Office) between now and Opening Day of Major League Baseball. In an effort to combat this, the NFL moved the Pro Bowl to take place this weekend, instead of the weekend after the Super Bowl. It still doesn't solve the problem of the Pro Bowl being a complete waste of time because none of the players want to injure themselves or anyone else, but whatever. Apparently Bryant McKinnie felt the same way I do and decided to skip the B.S. that is the NFL All-Star Game.

Kurt Warner decided to hang up the jock strap this weekend. While The Beard never thought much of Warner as a human being, there is no doubt in his mind that Warner is for sure a Hall Of Famer, arguably first ballot. A brief look at the numbers, Warner has a better career passer rating than Joe Montana, Otto Graham, Dan Marino, Jim Kelly, Roger Staubach, Len Dawson, Sonny Jurgenson, John Elway and Troy Aikman to name a few. The only QB to average more passing yards per game in his career than Warner is Peyton Manning. The only other QB's to average more completed passes per game than Warner are Peyton Manning and Drew Brees. The only other QB to have a better career completion percentage is Chad Pennington. Better than Steve Young, Joe Montana, Aikman, Jim Kelly, Dan Marino, Dan Fouts, Warren Moon, Bart Starr, and John Elway. Throw in 2 NFL MVP Awards, and 3 Super Bowl Appearances with 1 win should be enough for the voters.

After being rejected more than Neil Goldman on Family Guy, the Chicago Bears apparently are left with only Mike Martz to choose from for their offensive coordinator in 2010. While I certainly suggested the job shouldn't be given to Martz earlier, I also did predict that Martz would have to do some kissing if he were to get it. Apparently, he did exactly that yesterday as he traveled to Nashville to meet with Jay Cutler seemingly to convince Jay that running his offense will be a good thing. Also, supposedly Vikings QB Coach Kevin Rogers is on their radar after giving a great interview last week. Bottom line, if Martz is hired, it's a red flag that Lovie Smith is still calling the shots on who is hired on his staff. Martz and Lovie are friends, and Lovie has a bad habit of giving his friends jobs they don't deserve i.e. Bob Babich. Especially when Lovie's "people will want to come here" comment has already been proven to be yet another miscalculation at best, flat out lie at worst. Either way, it's becoming increasingly clear that the 2010 season is going to be a complete waste...

In other news this weekend, tough yet indicative loss for DePaul. Hawks with an understandable, yet still pretty bad loss after travelling 3 time zones to Carolina on Saturday. Herschel Walker added an MMA victory to his resume of WEIRD/RANDOM. Finally, Pat Summerall's old drinking buddy and running mate Tom Brookshier passed away this weekend. Long before Summerall was paired with John Madden in the booth, he was with Brookshier, and by most accounts led to some of the most legendary broadcasts of NFL games in the 1970's. The pair endured many late nights as they conducted "research" in the bars and watering holes of every city they broadcasted in, and at one point led to Brookshier saying the Louisville Cardinals basketball team had "a collective I.Q. of about 40".

So now it's onto next week, so we can watch the media try to dig up and manufacture some pre-Super Bowl hype. An early front runner that's emerged so far is "will he play or won't he play" featuring Dwight Freeney....

HAWKS WIN!

Keep it short and sweet: I was at the game tonight, and there was a playoff feel to the game from the moment the National Anthem started. It was a game that was worth every bit of hype that preceded it. Physical, Uptempo, and the refs put away their whistles and let both teams play. After jumping out to a quick 3-0 lead, the Sharks tightened up their defense, and slowly crawled back into it.

For the Hawks and their dead legs on this long road trip to hang in there and win it on Brouwer's OT Goal was a big statement into how good this team really is. Somehow The Beard has a feeling we might see these two teams go head to head in the playoffs this year.

Go Hawks!

Don't! Just.....DON'T...

Just in case we were going to have too much fun on Super Bowl Sunday, Tim Tebow and his mother decided to provide about 30 seconds of awkwardness at our respective Super Bowl parties by participating in a controversial anti-abortion ad. Terrific...terrrrrrific...

I can already envision the scene at the party. The ad runs, someone says something crass about the ad. Then someone else fires back at that person in disagreement. Arguing ensues, then it turns to bickering. A long, silent, and awkward pause for a good ten minutes takes place and the party officially becomes ruined.

Without the liberty of actually seeing the finished product, from what we've been told it will highlight Pam Tebow's decision to go against her doctor's recommendation of an abortion after she became ill on a mission trip to the Philippines and give birth to her 5th child that turned out to be Tim Tebow. The ad was paid for by the conservative christian (aren't "conservative" and "christian" pretty much the same word these days?) group Focus On The Family.

CBS has apparently never heard of the terms "slippery slope" or "Pandora's box" because that's exactly what they are exposing themselves to with this decision. This has nothing to do with The Beard's stance or Tim Tebow's stance, or anyone else's stance on abortion. This has to do with precedent. These types of political advocacy ads have never taken place during the Super Bowl to my knowledge, and airing this one opens the door for more extreme advertisements of hot button political issues such as gay marriage, or the death penalty to also be aired during the one event that should be free of all political affiliation or influence of any kind.

The Super Bowl ads have almost become as big as the game itself. Let's hope that CBS realizes that the risk they are assuming by airing this ad, is not worth the money they are receiving in the big picture.

O.W. Shaddock Rule : Thanks For The Memories Jim

Surprisingly there is some pretty strong backlash at the White Sox, mainly Ozzie Guillen's, decision to not bring Jim Thome back to the South Side for the upcoming 2010 season. Admittedly, it is a tough situation to let Thome go, especially considering he performed very well during his White Sox stint, enjoyed his time with the Sox immensely, did numerous appearances for charity willingly, and will forever be remembered for his 7th inning home run in Game 163 in 2008 (pictured left). Thome's reputation among White Sox fans, and in all of baseball is impeccable. The only people who have problems with Thome are those silly temperamental and illogical Cleveland Indians fans that don't understand anything about the business of baseball, or understand that the Indians couldn't afford to keep Thome even if they wanted to. Then again Indians fans have been historically slow to grasp the obvious sometimes.

All that aside however, this is business. The White Sox have decided to go for a more balanced, versatile, and for lack of a better term "National League style" lineup with an emphasis on speed, defense, manufacturing runs, etc, in order to restore some consistency with the offensive production. Ozzie has always preferred a lineup of this variety, and there is definitely a sense that Guillen was behind every decision the White Sox made this offseason. Andruw Jones and Omar Vizquel have 21 Gold Gloves between them. While never being accused of great defense at third base, Mark Teahen does provide a line drive hitter who will put the ball in play. Coupled with Mark Kotsay, Guillen plans to have the DH position wide open so he can specifically rotate a very deep bench, and keep these and other veterans as fresh as possible.

This leaves Jim Thome (and Jermaine Dye as well) as the square peg in the round hole. He's 39 years old, and he's not what the White Sox need, even in the role of a pinch hitter off the bench. He's clearly not the same hitter he used to be, and at some point the White Sox need to let go of the past. Let's not forget that the White Sox showed the door to their greatest player in franchise history Frank Thomas, to make room for Thome to be on the team in the first place. Let's also not forget, that the White Sox did the same thing to Ozzie Guillen that they did to Thome, when Ozzie was a player for them in 1998. It's a tough business, but it is the business of baseball, love it or hate it.

As O.W. Shaddock (John Matuszak) said in North Dallas Forty : "Every time I call it a game, you say it's a business. Every time I say it's a business, you call it a game!"

Jim Thome is a Minnesota Twin now, and The Beard is sending a big "Good Luck", and "Thanks For The Memories", to him.

Tiger Puzzle Piece

So Gerald Posner wrote this piece for our friends at thedailybeast.com describing the events that took place on Thanksgiving night between Tiger and Elin in detail. It draws information from two unnamed sources who are close with Elin, and it sheds a lot of light into just how Tiger ended up crashing his SUV while shoeless and how Elin ended up with a golf club in her hand.

Some of the new information that emerged from this piece has Tiger actually putting Elin on the phone with Rachel Uchitel in a desperate and lame attempt to convince Elin that their relationship was simply platonic. It also shows that Elin isn't stupid and is rather crafty herself. Elin waits until Tiger's nightly ambien takes effect, grabs his cellphone and sends Uchitel text messages posing as Tiger to get her to reveal herself as Tiger's 19th hole. Game, Set, Match, Nordegren.

Again, couldn't happen to a nicer guy, and it's simply awe-inspiring to see how far he is falling...

NFL Roundup

So The Beard once again went .500 in his NFL Playoff predictions:

The Jets offensive line didn't have the production they've shown this postseason, and only mustered 86 rushing yards against the Colts. That won't get it done. Mark Sanchez showed that he might be for real with some very nice throws particularly his second TD pass to Dustin Keller when he got destroyed as soon as the ball was released. The Colts defense made the necessary adjustments at half time though, and allowed the Jets zero 2nd half points. Peyton Manning continued to make his case that he might be the best quarterback ever in NFL History. Manning attacked and destroyed the Jets Safety's with deep throws, and as a result got Doug Plank fired as the Jets defensive backs coach. Plank has to be worth at least an interview for the open Bears D-Coordinator position doesn't he?


Brett Favre continued to show why he is the all time interception leader in NFL History by committing one of the most idiotic throws in NFL History to end the game and the Vikings Super Bowl run. Sure, Adrian Peterson fumbled too many times. Yes the vaunted Vikings defense didn't perform the way they have all season (did Jared Allen even play btw?). Absolutely that 12 men in the huddle penalty before the pick was really detrimental to the Vikings cause. None of that matters though, because if Brett Favre is supposed to be as good as all the Favre ass-lickers at ESPN/NFL Network/Fox/John Madden/CBS constantly say he is, he cannot make that play. That is inexcusable. High school qb's get yanked for making that kind of throw. Jay Cutler gets crucified (justifiably) for making throws like that. Maybe it's me, but I believe that 40 year old hall of fame bound quarterbacks know better than to make that throw back across the field right?


There are 9 other quarterbacks I would trust more in that situation than "The Almighty Vicodin" and they are as follows:

1. Peyton Manning
2. Tom Brady
3. Ben Roethlisberger
4. Eli Manning
5. Kurt Warner
6. Phillip Rivers
7. Carson Palmer
8. Drew Brees
9. Matt Ryan


The best part of the Favre throw? The Vikings Radio announcers immediate reaction to it. Give it a listen here.

Weekend Outlook

Some weird free agent baseball signings and uh "retirements" taking place in the last 48 hours. The Mets trading for Gary Matthews Jr. The Phillies signing Jose Contreras. The Kansas City Royals signing Rick Ankiel to their roster full of other teams garbage prospects who didn't work out. Then there's the bizarre case of Oakland A's prospect Grant Desme leaving his would be baseball career behind to enter the priesthood. This one is pretty silly and strange to The Beard. Grant has his whole life to enter the priesthood. He's only got a brief amount of time to play Major League Baseball. I understand the whole "calling" people feel but it's perfectly logical to ask why? Why throw it away when he doesn't have to? Didn't his god give him a gift to play? Isn't it a sin to waste the talents his catholic god gives him? It's very odd to say the least...

All the baseball dealings aside, this weekend is all about the NFL Championship Games. These games are always interesting, and most of the time they end up being better than the actual Super Bowl itself. All four of these teams are different from each other on both sides of the ball, and present interesting match ups. It's also interesting to note, that once again the NFL is still so over saturated, that a team with a 9-7 record is threatening to go to the Super Bowl for the second season in a row. Lets get to some predictions:

Jets v Colts : A lot of the spotlight is being focused on Peyton Manning's offense vs Rex Ryan's defense as the key match up for this game. I would submit that the focus should be the other way around. I think the big determining factor in this game will be the Jets offense, and how well they will be able to run the football against that very light front seven of the Colts. If the Jets are able to dominate the Time Of Possession, it keeps the ball out of Manning's hands and it will keep the Jet defense rested. Baltimore had a similar strategy last week, and it would have worked had they not fumbled 3 times. Shonn Greene is known to fumble, but Thomas Jones never does. The Jets also might have the best offensive line in football with 3 Pro Bowlers. Yeah Peyton Manning will get his yards, and the Colts might get a couple of TD's, but my prediction is Jets 26 Colts 20.

Vikings v Saints : We're being told that this is the game that will "vindicate" Brett Favre, and if the Vikings win, we should all not hate him anymore because all of this drama has led to a Super Bowl appearance. I guess we shouldn't hate Ray Lewis anymore because he won the Super Bowl too, if we follow that logic. Obviously since Ray Lewis doesn't get the benefit of the doubt from people with three digit I.Q.'s and long memories, Favre shouldn't get the benefit of the doubt either.

Favre's ultimate legacy will be that of a petulant, me-first, crybaby, and bald face LIAR he has been over the past 3 seasons. He lied twice to both the Packers, and Jets about his retirement. He also lied to the Vikings about it when he initially said thanks but no thanks because he didn't want to go to training camp. He threw so many people (Ted Thompson in particular) under the bus because they were guilty of the grievous crime of taking his "I'm Retired" press conference seriously and moving on with their franchise. He is all about Brett Favre, and Brett Favre only. Everyone else on the team is just going along for the ride.

It will all be for naught however, as the Saints offense will be too high powered for the Vikings defense to slow down. Saints 30-Vikings 23.

Have a great weekend everybody!