By Franchise Play
All types of yardage from Alshon Jeffery and the re-emergence of Marquess Wilson help team overcome Tim Jennings’ big helmet and Jay Cutler’s picks.
Posted on October 21, 2014
SportsMonday: Brandon Marshall Is Unacceptable
By Jim Coffman
It would be good if someone on the Bears other than Robbie Gould would tell Brandon Marshall to shut up.
Marshall’s yammering Sunday, both inside and outside the locker room, was just the latest example of this selfish player making himself the center of attention at the expense of the team. Previous episodes this season alone involve him embarrassing the team’s medical staff by saying he played with an injured ankle when he shouldn’t have and his tone-deaf press conference at the height of the domestic violence hullabaloo a few weeks prior.
The veteran wide receiver turned up the volume in the aftermath of the brutal 27-14 loss to Miami. He did so despite the fact that quite simply, he didn’t have anything to say. All of that “unacceptable” crap, hey Brandon, everyone knew that already.
Posted on October 20, 2014
The College Football Report: Area Police Top Poll
By Mike Luce
1. Morgantown’s First Responders.
#22 West Virginia upset the Baylor Bears (#12) in an impressive 41-27 victory in Morgantown, which fans promptly stomped and burned to the ground. The usual couch-burning ritual ensued following the game, but even the notoriously riotous Mountaineer fans seem to have taken it to another level: local police had to use tear gas to disperse the crowds. Classy.
Posted on October 20, 2014
The Beachwood Radio Sports Hour #22: The Giants Are A Better Story Than The Royals
By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes
And Brian Sabean is the game’s best (and most underrated) GM. Plus: Cubs Entering “Competitive Phase” – For Fourth Place; Why The NCAA’s Best Athletes Should Drop Out Of School; Miami Is A Trap Game!; Coach Q vs. Tom Thibodeau; The Chicago Fire Make A Great Father’s Day Gift.
Posted on October 18, 2014
The College Football Report: Jameis State
By Mike Luce
Jameis Winston has ruined the 2014 college football season. The 2013 Heisman winner spent the summer stealing crab legs, kicked off the season being benched for screaming obscenities (and lying about same) on the quad, and now finds himself in more controversy as 2,000 items bearing his signature have surfaced.
While it’s unclear how many of the items are for sale (on eBay and elsewhere), the James Spence Authentication website certifies all 2,000 as legit, far more than the 900 as previously reported. (Authentication services claim to certify autographs as a neutral party unrelated to memorabilia dealers. That dealers created the market and the need for such services speaks volumes.)
Posted on October 17, 2014
Mojitos Over Miami
By Carl Mohrbacher
Como Se Lamas
I was planning on opening up this week’s column with a Princess Bride reference, courtesy of David Diehl. I feel like anyone who watched the Fox broadcast and compared the former NFL lineman to the guy filling in for Thom Brennaman will understand.
I didn’t realize they made shirts with a size 38 neck.
But it turns out when you search the term “David Diehl Fox,” you get a gift from the heavens:
Episode six of the second season of Renegade starring Lorenzo Lamas like five links down.
Thanks, The Internets!
Posted on October 16, 2014
Fantasy Fix: A World Of Pain
By Dan O’Shea
The injuries are really starting to pile up, which means fantasy football scores are really starting to come down. Pretty soon, an RB averaging 5.5 points a game or a WR-3 on a run-oriented team will start looking like waiver wire steals.
The casualties of Week 6 included Stevan Ridley, RB, NE; Victor Cruz, WR, NYG; and Knowshon Moreno, RB, MIA, all lost for the remainder of the season. Already spending Week 6 at the infirmary were recognizable names like Calvin Johnson, WR, DET; A.J. Green, WR, CIN; Montee Ball, RB, Den; Reggie Bush, RB, DET; and Donald Brown, RB, SD, though all are expected to return to action soon.
This is the long way of explaining why Mohammad Sanu, WR, CIN, caught 10 passes for 120 yards and a TD (Green’s replacement); Ronnie Hillman, RB, DEN, amassed 100 yards rushing last week (Ball’s replacement); and Theo Riddick, RB, DET, caught five balls for 75 yards and a TD (Bush’s replacement).
More on the wounded and who may step up in the absence in our Week 6 recap:
Posted on October 15, 2014
SportsMondayTuesday: Todd Gurley vs. The NCAA
By Jim Coffman
The NCAA is actually doing Georgia running back Todd Gurley a favor by suspending him indefinitely. Hopefully Gurley, who was carrying the ball so well for the Bulldogs early in the season that he was universally seen as a top Heisman Trophy candidate, will recognize it as such, although reports this week seemed to indicate that was not the case.
Of all the dim-witted NCAA rules, perhaps the most ridiculous (and again, we never use that word lightly around here) is the one prohibiting athletes from making money by signing various bits of sports memorabilia. How can this possibly be okay in free market America? I know the powers-that-be have enabled the NCAA to operate as a cartel protecting college sports profits for fat cats for decades now, but it still boggles the mind that they think it is okay to tell a young man he can’t profit this way.
Posted on October 14, 2014
Bears Fans Are Who They Are
By Steve Rhodes
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me a million times and I must be a Bears fan.
It’s easy to bask in the glow of this one, but don’t forget: Jay Cutler is still Jay Cutler. The reason he’s so frustrating is that he has games like this in between games like that.
What we witnessed on Sunday was every bit the Same Old Jay as last week, when he seemed to have finally been abandoned even by the Cutler dead-enders.
If Jay was a Seinfeld episode, he’d be this one:
Posted on October 13, 2014
The College Football Report Top Ten: Mississippi vs. America
By Mike Luce
1. Mississippi State.
All of Starkville celebrated a dominant win by its newly minted #1 Bulldogs over SEC West powerhouse Auburn. Lou Holtz brought the cowbell.
Posted on October 13, 2014