Each week, the Fantasy Island contestants will submit a preview for each of that weekend's games. The best preview from each game will be selected and combined with the others into one comprehensive guide, and points are awarded based on how many individual previews from each writer are selected. Get it? OK. We sorta do, too.
This week's podcast started with mixed emotions. For as much joy as I had for Ephraim attending his good friend Chester Pitts's wedding, it just wasn't the same without him in the studio. Colors just seemed less bright, ya know?
We powered through though, and after asking what the vibe was like in Houston following Monday's loss, we talked some J.J. Watt, Vince Wilfork, the uniquely developed games of the league's young pass rushers, and the dearly departed Cam Cameron. But mostly, we talked about the Dirty Bird. Inspired by this week's great touchdown celebrations, I asked Ephraim about his all-time favorites, totally forgetting his time with the famed 1998 Falcons. You'll hear the heartbreak in my voice when I learn he never Dirty Bird–ed — mostly because that means there's no video.
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports on Tuesday.
Bears (+5.5) over PACKERS
If you watched the Bears thrash the Colts on Sunday, you couldn't help but notice Jay Cutler throwing the football to new teammate Brandon Marshall over and over and over again. It happened 15 times in all, with Marshall catching nine of them for 119 yards and a score. Sometimes Marshall was wide-open; sometimes he had two guys draped over him. Cutler didn't care. He kept chucking it to him as Bears fans thought to themselves, My God, is this what it's like? Is that what we were missing?
The following facts are absolutely, 100 percent true:
As the long, hot summer drags on, we here at the Triangle figured we’d provide a steady stream of NFL goodness as a reminder of the light at the end of the baseball-lined tunnel.
Unless you and everyone else in your office really hate Mondays, I’d suggest popping in some headphones for this one. Drowning Pool soundtrack and all, I’ve watched this video about 513 times since NFL free agency opened up, and that number is only going to ramp up during the next two months. Because for a certain segment of the population (read: every past, present, and future Chicago Bears fan), this eight-minute clip is our Citizen Kane.
1. Brandon Marshall, Will Now Winter in Chicago
Bill Simmons chimes on in on the Bears' big trade acquisition: "When you're an All-Pro WR on a team that's trying to do everything it can to sign Peyton Manning, only you get dumped for two third-round picks right in the middle of the courting process … I mean, that can't be a good sign."
2. Jarrad Page, Bo Knows!
Bill Barnwell dusts off his no. 16 Royals jersey: "It is my duty to nominate former Chiefs and Patriots safety Jarrad Page, who appears to have finished a somewhat bizarre six-year NFL career by signing a minor-league contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers to play baseball. Page, who apparently impressed the Dodgers in an open tryout, was selected three different times in the MLB draft before moving on to football. Page spent two years playing baseball alongside football at UCLA, and, well, his performance record isn't sterling. In 221 at-bats over two years, Page put up a .195/.270/.285 line while striking out 94 times. Because we grew up in the early nineties, though, we are nostalgic for baseball/football crossover players and want them to return. So yay Jarrad Page!"
3. Evan Turner, Scottie Pippen, Basically
In four games as a starter, the former no. 2 overall pick is averaging 17 points, 12 rebounds, and 3.5 assists. He spent the first year and a half of his career doing some interesting things, some silly things, or nothing really at all. But ever since he replaced Jodie Meeks in the Sixers' starting lineup, he's been a powerhouse. Forget Linsanity (you probably already have) (what up, Knicks), this is EVANDEMONIUM.
This weekend was full of surprising NFL news, but nothing was as shocking as Brandon Marshall’s unlikely ascension to the title of The NFL’s Most Interesting Man. Before publicly disclosing that he suffers from Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), Marshall was seen quite differently, and was sometimes thought of as a bit of a troublemaker. By sharing his diagnosis, though, Marshall has given some context to his lengthy and colorful history of legal scrapes and transformed himself into the league’s least likely feel-good story.
