Hey, remember that time Craig Robinson, of Flip Flop Fly Ball fame, made that graphic for the baseball playoffs? That was cool, right? Good news: We asked him to do it again for the NFL playoffs. And this one even has an awesome bit involving the National Mall.
In the words of Shane Ryan, if you were out "living a life of leisure" last night, you missed a blackout during Monday Night Football. Apparently, San Francisco is in the business of writing bad checks or something, because on two separate occasions, the power went out in the entire stadium. Everything was fine, seeing as it wasn't a Raiders game, but people didn't really know how to react. There was a great deal of speculation, some finger-pointing, and overall confusion.
It was time for Albert Haynesworth to go. After being lauded as the next great reclamation project in New England before he ever took a snap (and then fell down) in anger, Haynesworth was alternately ineffective and injured during most of his tenure. The final straw came last week, when Haynesworth followed a holding penalty in the second quarter with what Boston Globe NFL writer Greg Bedard called "...three of the worst plays you will see out of an NFL defensive tackle." His time was up.
Haynesworth isn't the only player whose time should be up, though; there are veterans around the league who are simply collecting a paycheck they don't deserve and occupying playing time that should be going to younger, hungrier players. (Yes, Chad Ochocinco is one of them, but we are contractually limited to only one Pats kick-in-the-teeth per post by our editor in chief.)
Those words come from the song "Jimi Thing" by the Dave Matthews Band, and it's a good idea to sing them out loud if you ever want to be shunned at a party. But don't sleep on Brother Chaos; he's a real phenomenon, and he makes his presence known in college football. The Week of Chaos happens every year, usually just once, turning the whole Top 25 upside down. And I'm starting to get the vibe. There's a feeling in the air, something more than the usual pre-Halloween disquiet, and I think Week 8 will finally deliver on the promise.
Broadcaster Al Michaels makes his triumphant return to the B.S. Report to discuss Bill’s popularity in Jerusalem, Michaels’ personal history with the late Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis, other great owners in the league, and what it’s like to share a booth with John Madden and Cris Collinsworth.
Hey you, yeah you with all the disposable income. You know what stimulates the economy? Casual sports gambling! But we're not throwing you in the deep end without some floaties, here. The Triangle has contracted two of Vegas' most astute handicappers to help you navigate the choppy waters of gambling, going into this third weekend of the NFL season. Here's what they had to say.
Part of the fun of being a football fan is assigning credit (and blame) on coaches and players. To do this properly — to be an informed fan — you have to understand what the players were trying to do in the first place. In this first installment of a new feature at The Triangle, Chris Brown of Smart Football will analyze a key play from the previous weekend of NFL action. First up: a look at Cam Newton’s NFL debut.
They hanged Bubba Smith in effigy at Notre Dame. This was before he tore apart cans of low-calorie beer with his bare hands, before he showed up on Vega$ and Taxi and Hart to Hart and Eight is Enough, before he played a Bunyan-esque police officer in a film series that evolved from a low-IQ spoof into the pinnacle of '80s Hollywood vapidity. This was in 1966, before we learned to love Moses Hightower, and Bubba Smith was a 6-foot-8 defensive lineman who wore size 52 suits, tossed around blockers like feather pillows, and played for the blackest major college program in America. It was the week before the most famous tie game in history — Michigan State 10, Notre Dame 10 — and at a South Bend pep rally, Bubba’s likeness was hung next to a sign reading, “LYNCH ‘EM.”
