Johnny Manziel Released, Barred from Playing in CFL for Violating His Contract. Sigh.

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ESPN – The Montreal Alouettes released quarterback Johnny Manziel on Wednesday, saying he “contravened the agreement which made him eligible to play” in the Canadian Football League. The CFL said Manziel is not eligible to sign with another team in the league, which had his full rights for two seasons.

“We are disappointed by this turn of events. Johnny was provided a great deal of support by our organization, in collaboration with the CFL, but he has been unable to abide by the terms of his agreement,” Alouettes general manager Kavis Reed said in a statement. “We worked with the league and presented alternatives to Johnny, who was unwilling to proceed.”

It is unclear what Manziel did to violate the agreement with the Alouettes and the CFL.

Manziel, 26, played for the Alouettes last season in an attempt to resurrect his career. In eight games, he completed 106 passes in 165 attempts for 1,290 yards, with five touchdowns and seven interceptions. Montreal traded two players and two first-round picks to Hamilton last July for Manziel’s rights.

Next stop XFL? I don’t know what Johnny may have done here, but it’s probably not a great sign that a guy with a long and checkered past filled with drinking and drug problems randomly gets cut on a Wednesday afternoon.

Manziel has not played well in the CFL either, which was disappointing with the lesser competition he was facing north of the border, but he did suffer a concussion early on last season so that couldn’t have helped. Normally I would say this is probably the end of the line for a player, but as luck would have it not one but TWO new football leagues have recently sprung up as options.

It might be a little late in the season for a quarterback to jump into the AAF seeing as its already Week 3 of a 10 game season, but hey bums like Christian Hackenberg are getting benched as we speak so  you never know.

However…the XFL begins play in 2020. You know Vince McMahon loves a star and the bad boy persona of Johnny Football could be the perfect poster child for the XFL’s inaugural season. With just under a year until XFL play begins it would give Manziel a full offseason to get in shape, learn the playbook and ingratiate himself with a new team. All of which is a moot point if he is dealing with some bigger life problems. Who knows, but the guy was so fun to watch at A&M, I hope he gets his life back on track, even if it’s XFL or bust at this point.

“Ubuntu” No More, This Celtics Squad is Simply Not a Team

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Earlier today, Dom already hit you with a reaction piece from last night’s debacle north of the border, and I could not agree more with his overall assessment: this Celtics team is displaying ZERO passion, heart, or drive right now, and it’s kind of hard to see them playing much past April this year.

All of this has become glaringly apparent for anyone who has watched them lately. Even putting aside Tuesday night’s complete submission in Toronto – which was their fifth loss in their last seven games – this team has just been piling up embarrassing, vomit-inducing losses in recent weeks, some of which being completely and utterly unacceptable:

  • A five-point loss at home to Golden State at the end of January after turning the ball over 14 times and missing key opportunities in the game’s final minutes.
  • A tough one-point loss at home to the Lakers on February 7th.
  • A horrendous loss to the Clippers just two nights later – a game in which the C’s blew a 28-POINT LEAD AT HOME and ultimately lost by 11. (This was easily the worst loss of the year so far.)
  • An inexcusable 10-point loss to the Bulls – the 16-45 freakin’ BULLS – this past weekend, during which they allowed Zach LaVine to somehow score 42 points.
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I feel ya, Brad. WTF???

I get that there have also been times the Celtics have played extremely well this year. After all, they did win 10-of-11 from mid-January through the first week of February, a run which actually started off with a nine-point home victory against the very same Raptors team that eviscerated them on national TV just last night. But they’re currently in fifth place in the conference right now, two games behind Philly for fourth. That is just completely unacceptable for a team that pretty much everyone – fan or not – considered to be the consensus runaway, No. 1 favorite in the East this season. (Remember, this team was mere minutes away from an NBA Finals appearance less than a year ago!)

I’ve complained on numerous occasions about the team’s maddening inconsistency this year, both as a unit and from an individual standpoint. While Jayson Tatum, Al Horford, and Marcus Morris have each put up some points this season, the only truly consistent player, night in and night out, in terms of scoring the ball has been Kyrie Irving (minus last night’s seven-point performance).

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Even through all the drama, Kyrie is still getting it done.

It really is a crapshoot as to who is going to show up for the Celtics each night otherwise, and much of that has to do with the fact that everyone is fighting for a role on a completely overcrowded roster. Most of the time, teams are happy to have such an “embarrassment of riches,” but there’s also a lot to be said about the whole “too many cooks in the kitchen” adage, too.

Just look at last night against Toronto, for example: Brad Stevens used 11 guys in total – with nine of them receiving at least 20 minutes of action on the floor! In comparison, the Raptors used 13, BUT only five guys saw over 20 minutes, with two of their best receiving over 30. That’s how it should be: Use your best guys a lot, and let everyone else settle into lesser roles. Enough of this little-league style, “everybody gets to play” B.S. It’s now almost March. If this team has any chance of making a run this season, Brad needs to buckle down and tell his guys to stop chirping, play harder, and learn their role. If you can’t take over a game, then take a back seat.

But what really struck me last night was the continuously deteriorating attitude and psyche surrounding the team. This, folks, is what will be the team’s Achilles’ heel.

First, there was this little candid moment from a usually very even-keeled Brad Stevens:

Nahhht a great look there. Brad also blatantly called the team out after the game and said they were “taking shortcuts,” particularly on defense.

Then, there was also this quote from Marcus Smart:

And thereeeee we have it. That’s the problem: this “team” is just simply not a team right now.

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“It’s going slower than we expected,” Marcus??!! Dude, there’s a month and a half left in the season. WAKE UP.

Unfortunately, this not an easy thing to fix. It’s also not something new nor an issue that anyone should find surprising. With Kyrie running his mouth all year long, younger players like Jaylen Brown clapping back at him, and others throughout the roster looking like Gloomy Gus in multiple media clippings this year, all we were waiting for is a quote like this to give us vindication. OH, and now the coach is joining in on the melancholy, too? AWESOME.

Alas, this is the NBA, and hot streaks can happen. I could be sitting here in three weeks looking like a moron if Brad tightens the rotation, lets the talent take over, and tells anyone who doesn’t like it to pound sand. After all, they’re still a top-five defensive squad and possess the star power to be a force when they want to be.

But with games against Portland, Houston, Golden State, Sacramento (twice), and both L.A. teams over the next two and a half weeks, how many people feel confident that will happen?

Yeah, that’s what I thought. Wake me up when the boys are ready to act like men, and maybe we can do something here. Until then, I’m putting the children in time out.

Knee Jerk Reactions to the Celtics Atrocity in Toronto

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That pretty much sums it up. God, what an atrocity. I figured that after a Bucks game that we were one blown call away from winning and a disaster in Chicago we’d be able to bounce back and at least compete in Toronto, but boy was I wrong. What is it with this team and second quarters? I didn’t see a single positive out of this team, and am left questioning if this team even has enough to make it through the first round of the playoffs, let alone make a deep run.

Can you imagine what that postgame locker room and subsequent flight back to Boston were like?

As for knee jerk reactions, here’s what I saw. I saw a team that completely and utterly lacks the heart, focus and energy needed to compete at the highest levels. I saw players dropping easy passes, not getting back on defense, pointing fingers, yelling at each other, forgetting how to run a fast break, not knowing who to guard, and making every possible middle school mistake you can think of. It was disgusting. And don’t get me wrong, I didn’t expect the Celtics to win this game, but I thought they’d show up.

Related imageBrad Stevens watching the other team go on a run and wondering if he should call a timeout.

Image result for well were waiting gifLiterally every Celtics fan watching opponents go on 12-0 runs while Brad wonders if he should call a timeout.

Now, I stand by everything I said about Kyrie last week. I’m sick of the drama surrounding him, not that it’s all his fault. However, I don’t blame him for all of our troubles in the least. The struggles this Celtics team have been going through are on everyone’s shoulders, and that’s reflected in the box score. Smart was -25, Morris -24, Horford -16, Brown -13, Rozier -11, Irving -10, and Tatum -8. Kyrie usually has no problem taking things into his own hands, but it seemed like he didn’t even try. This may be a result of good defense from Toronto, but the killer instinct he usually has was nowhere to be found. He only had SEVEN POINTS on ten shots. How does that happen? I understand this game meant more to the psyche’s of the Boston fan base than to the actual playoff picture, but still. That can’t happen.

On the plus side, this happened.

Danny needs to sign a big man and bring in some much needed toughness, as well as challenge these guys to earn their minutes. Brad needs to make changes to the rotation stat. Bench some people. Theis is trash and shouldn’t see the court. One of the Marcus’ should come off the bench. Shorten the leashes and pull anyone who isn’t making shots or hustling back on defense. For the love of god, change it up. The rotations are lazy, the play calling predictable, and the defense lethargic. Now excuse me while I go finish ralphing all over my shoes.

Nintendo Just Announced Its New Pokemon Game and It Looks AWESOME

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This is not a drill guys, this is what we’ve been waiting for all these years. Nintendo/Game Freak is finally releasing an open world Pokemon RPG. It only took 21 years, but here it is; Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield.

I was super bummed last week when Nintendo unveiled its annual Nintendo Direct, which they use each year to tease everything they have coming up, because there was not a single mention of Pokemon. But a bit later it was revealed that Pokemon would have its own 7 minute Direct video and my brain was off to the races.

Sure you could argue they already did that with Pokemon Lets Go Pikachu and Lets Go Eevee, which looked great, but they were really just a port of Pokemon Yellow. This will be the first open world Pokemon game in 3D on a major platform.

If you have followed The 300s even a little, you know that I am a diehard Pokemon guy since the days of Pokemon Red back in 1998.

I think the last Game Boy I owned was Game Boy Advance, after racking up the original and Game Boy Color. So needless to say I missed just about every game between between Pokemon Crystal and this, not counting N64 titles. So anything from 3DS or the likes never made it into my home.

It’s a funny story of why it took so long too. The Nintendo Switch has been out for just about 2 years, but we’re not getting new Pokemon titles until “late 2019,” nearly a full 3 years after the system dropped. Why would Nintendo wait this long into a system’s lifecycle before releasing one of its core IPs? Especially with Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild being monster hits on Switch? Well, the Pokemon CEO literally thought Switch was going to flop.

The man in charge of all things Pokémon says he specifically warned Nintendo about its latest console, the outrageously popular Nintendo Switch. He thought it was going to be a failure.

“I told Nintendo that Switch wouldn’t be a success before it went on sale, because I thought that in the age of the smartphone no one would carry around a game console,” Tsunekazu Ishihara, CEO of The Pokémon Company told Bloomberg in a recent interview. “It’s obvious I was wrong.”

Glad we got that cleared up Tsunekazu because I am jones-ing for some new Pokemon in my life.

Super Mario Odyssey was awesome, but Zelda Breath of the Wild was one of the best games I’ve ever played. It really showcased what the Switch was capable in terms of world building. I think they have as evidenced by the long delay in the game’s release, but I hope Pokemon takes that example to heart. With that being said, the new region, Galar, looks incredibly vast so fingers crossed.

With a new region comes new Pokemon and they only introduced your new starting 3, but as usual its a grass/fire/water type sophie’s choice.

And heres a couple of mockups of how the game will actually look in your hand:

Now “late 2019” is a ways away so thats disappointing, but at least we’ve got Detective Pikachu to look forward to. A movie that has no right looking as good as it does. It also comes out on my 30th birthday. Coincidence? I think not.

I’m Having Impure Thoughts About These Pics of Mookie Betts in the Gym

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What do you do after you win the MVP? You get back in the damn gym and keep grinding. I love it. Mookie is listed at 5’9″ so he’s not a big guy to begin with and especially wearing baggy baseball jerseys every day it goes unnoticed, but dude is low key YOKED.

A lot of people probably still think of him as the scrawny guy he was down at Pawtucket,

Not the Adonis you see before you today.

Getting a little flustered if we’re being honest.

This is exactly what you want to see out of your best player though. Not resting on his laurels and falling back into the trappings of a professional bowler lifestyle. Nope, dude is getting after it because he wants to be the best Red Sox highest paid player of all time.

Doc Rivers Grabbed the Mic to Honor Dirk Nowitzki Mid-Game, Shows the Difference Between LA and Boston in 10 Seconds

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As any NBA fan knows, first ballot HOFer in waiting Dirk Nowitzki is playing what is almost definitely his final season. The guy has been one of the greatest scorers in NBA history with an absolutely unstoppable patented fadeaway:

Dirk’s legacy is something my good friend Mark Cuban and I talked about at length when we ran into each other my first time in Vegas.

While Dirk hasn’t officially announced his retirement, most fans expect this to be his last go round. So last night with time winding down in a game between the Mavs and the Clippers, Doc Rivers literally called a timeout, grabbed the PA mic, and told Clippers fans to get up and give Dirk a standing ovation.

Awesome gesture, and I can’t say I’ve ever seen anything like it….BUT, it just goes to show the difference between LA and Boston.

In LA, the coach literally had to stop the game and tell his fans to honor a legend because it would be embarrassing if they didn’t.

Boston?

Reminds of the old days when even Kobe Bryant was wildly cheered in his final games in Boston. Kobe was the first athlete I went from hating to begrudgingly respecting to flat out liking. The same became true of A-Rod years later. So even if we hate your ass, Boston is still the greatest sports city in the world.

#RushHourRap – J. Cole – Middle Child (Video)

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I know we’ve been doing a lot of J. Cole lately, but hey the guy is on fire right now. Yesterday he dropped the visuals for his latest single, Middle Child, and it is a trip. J. Cole, so hot right now. J. Cole.

I’ll let HotNewHipHop break it down for you below:

The visuals start out on a dark note with a group of figures behind the rapper as he sings for the camera. Things brighten up when he sits passenger side in the whip, ending up in a lavish cabin by the fireplace. A woman bounces her booty back and forth in the corner of the room with Cole paying little attention to her. The most lighting in this video comes when Jermaine rolls through the supermarket, casually flowing through the juice aisle with so much swag. This is one of the best videos of 2019 and it may remain in that category at the end of the year.

New York Station SNY Has Been Tweeting a Daily Tim Tebow Moment Every Day and Its Awesome

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These are some Grade-A, sarcastic, bullshit tweets right here. It would seem everyone in America is in agreement that Tim Tebow has no business being at Mets spring training, but people love them some Tebow. I love Tebow, the dude just fascinates me. I don’t know if I would watch a Tebow reality show because it would just consist of him working out, going to church, and holding hands with his Miss Universe girlfriend. Not exactly Party Down South material, but hey people are interested in the guy despite his lack of real, sustained success as a professional. So SNY says alright you dummies you want more Tebow coverage well here’s the Daily Tim Tebow Moment. Chewing his fingernails in the outfield, walking around the warning track, drinking water. Just a ridiculous place we’ve reached as a society. Snake it til you make it Tim, I respect that game.

PS – If you’ve never seen Party Down South, you must stop whatever you’re doing and go watch it right now. It’s basically the south’s version of Jersey Shore and it used to be on the Country Music TV network. Just good, wholesome, salt of the earth southerners getting blackout drunk every day on TV for our enjoyment.

Rapper Lil Pump Claims He’ll Give Harvard Commencement Speech. Can’t Say I’d Be Thrilled If I Was a Harvard Student

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High Snobiety – Lil Pump has finessed the opportunity of a lifetime as this year’s commencement speaker for Harvard University. WHRB Harvard Radio made a formal announcement about the honor this morning. According to an accompanying press release, the rapper will officially become the “youngest commencement speaker in history.” Yes, it is absolutely insane and we are determined to find out exactly how this even happened. Obviously, Lil Pump is very excited about the graduation based on this statement:

“You don’t gotta graduate from Harvard to do this speech,” he said.” I dropped out, so they called me like they called the guy that made Windows and PCs and shit before I was born. You just need a cap and gown, which I got. When I found out, I was happy to give everyone a lesson. I’m all about the youth. Yes, they are the future. This is a preview of my speech, one word: ESSKEETIT!!!!!!”

If this is some elaborate guerilla marketing tactic that Lil Pump has organized with the Harvard student radio station then bravo; that guy should get to give the Harvard Business School speech. His new album is apparently called “Harverd Dropout” though so I’m staying woke on this one. But if thats not the case, then please resume reading the rest of this blog.

If I was a snooty rich kid getting ready to become an illustrious Harvard grad after paying my dad paid $70K each of the last 4 years, I gotta tell you I’d feel a certain way about having Lil Pump give my commencement speech. Somewhere between annoyed and incredulous. Probably would be asking myself what did I just pay for if Pump is giving a commencement speech at the most elite school in the world yet can’t remember the name of the guy that invented “Windows and PCs and shit.”

With that being said, this kid is 18 years old and has probably made more money in the last 12 months than I’ll see in the next 10 years so I can’t exactly say he’s unqualified to give a speech on becoming successful.

I got Mitch Albom for my commencement speech, who I like, but he kinda mailed that one in as he essentially just read the spark notes of his book, Tuesdays With Morrie.

This all begs the question, who would you want to realistically give your commencement speech?

Post-Weekend Robert Kraft Update and a Few Other Patriots Notes

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Folks throughout the nation are still trying to process the news that broke on Friday about Patriots owner Robert Kraft, with a full spectrum of reactions ranging from “So what? It’s his own personal life” to “HE NEEDS TO SELL THE TEAM!”

Myself and the boys already provided you with our initial reaction to the story in this week’s podcast, so I’m not here to rehash what I’ve already said. (To be entirely honest, it’s still a very fluid, very contentious, and very far-reaching story – for which we still don’t have all the facts – so I feel as though I’ve said all I needed to say so far.)

But many are wondering what’s going to happen next, and we did receive at least some more insight regarding the potential fallout, which all started very early on Monday morning with this tweet from ESPN’s Michele Steele:

Steele also notes later on in the thread that, to this point, Kraft is not being charged with anything implicating his involvement in any form of human trafficking.

The NFL also released their first official statement regarding the matter this morning:

So, as of lunch time on Monday, here’s what we know so far:

  1. Kraft is being charged with a misdemeanor and arrested for soliciting prostitution.
  2. Kraft, at least as it currently stands, is NOT being charged with any involvement (or knowledge of) human trafficking relating to the establishment he visited.
  3. The NFL is letting the full investigation play out before making a decision regarding how they plan to punish Kraft.

OK, so at least it didn’t get any worse than what we first learned on Friday.

When trying to project what type of punishment Kraft could receive from the NFL, it’s important to remember that the league is actually kind of limited by the CBA in regards to what it can do to reprimand owners. Besides issuing a “maximum fine” of $500,000 (which is NOTHING to Kraft), the league can simply choose to suspend him for a long time. They cannot technically force him to sell the team or step down in any way.

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Your move, Rog.

How long will they suspend him, you ask? That’s where it gets interesting. Everyone wants to bring up Indianapolis Colts owner/CEO Jim Irsay, who was suspended for six games and fined $500,000 back in 2014 after being arrested for driving under the influence (which came after a series of other previous drug-related “infractions”). Tom Benson and the Saints also lost $500,000, along with two draft picks, for the whole Bountygate scandal in 2012. And way before Roger Goodell’s time, former 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo was fined and suspended for an entire year in the late ’90s after getting caught up in a gambling scandal.

But, in truth, a more recent example might serve as a more telling indicator of what may lie ahead. After being accused of years-long sexual misconduct and racism as owner of the Carolina Panthers, Jerry Richardson was pretty much shamed into selling the team last year AND ultimately ending up shelling out almost $3 million, all told. Especially after their mishandling of the Ray Rice situation – as well as the fact that they have STILL yet to determine any sort of punishment for Kareem Hunt – the NFL could look to make a similarly strong statement against Kraft as the one they took against Richardson; after all, these are owners who are (so they say) supposed to be held to a much higher standard.

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Richardson suffered a pretty harsh, and well-deserved, punishment just last year.

And that’s really the whole scoop on Kraft for now, with plenty more still to come in short order. Stay tuned.

In other Patriots news…

(Don’t Call It a Comeback): While we did receive word last week that safety Devin McCourty would be returning next season, we still don’t have an answer about Gronk. Apparently, he’s been seen around the team facility over the past couple of weeks, so that’s a good sign. But otherwise, all we’ve got so far is this quote from Gronk’s agent Drew Rosenhaus from last Tuesday:

“I checked in with Gronk a couple of days ago. I talked with the Patriots about it. Right now, Rob is thinking it through. He is giving it a lot of thought. Rob will certainly I think make a decision in the foreseeable future. I don’t want to put any pressure on him and give him a timeframe, but I would imagine it will be sometime in the next couple of weeks.” (h/t WEEI.com)

Cool. Thanks for literally nothing, Drew.

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What are ya thinking, big fella?

Hopefully, Gronk is considerate enough to let the team know his decision before the new league year and free agency starts on March 13.

(The Other McCourty Wants Back In, Too): After being reunited with his twin brother and having a career year topped off by a Super Bowl win in 2018, Jason McCourty made no secret of his desire to return to Foxborough when speaking to the media on Sunday. Unlike his brother, however, Jason is not already under contract and is instead set to hit unrestricted free agency this offseason. In fact, he is one of 18 Pats players scheduled to hit the open market next month. Fortunately, though, besides maybe Stephen Gostkowski, he looks like the most likely to return, and I’m fully confident both sides will get something done quickly to make sure No. 30 is back in a Pats uniform next season.

(What About Flowers and Brown?): Technically, there haven’t been any concrete updates pertaining to Trey Flowers or Trent Brown – who are easily the team’s two biggest free agents – but it doesn’t change the fact the entire offseason is predicated on what happens next with these two (particularly Flowers). Just this morning, Bleacher Report posted a story about how Flowers could be the “NFL’s top free agent” this offseason, proving just how difficult it may be to bring the stud defensive end back – especially when you consider the team’s typical frugality relating to free agents in the past. Brown is likely off to greener pastures, but the Pats’ offseason truly cannot start until Flowers’s next move is known. I am praying that Bill & Co. open up the purse strings on this one. We can’t let Flowers walk. We just can’t.

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PAY THIS MAN, BILL!!!

(Sitting Pretty for the Draft): Last week, it was announced the Patriots would be given a league-high four compensatory picks in the upcoming draft, giving them two additional picks in the third round as well as an extra pick in each of the sixth and seventh rounds. That means the Pats now have seven picks in the first four rounds (!) of the 2019 NFL Draft, allowing them to bring in hoards of young talent this offseason or, even better, using the capital they have to make a shrewd trade for another helpful piece. No matter what they do with the picks, it’s a really nice position to be in.

That’s it for now, but with the 2019 league year set to kick off in just about three weeks, we’ll have plenty more in store for you along the way. So be sure to keep checking in with The 300s for all your Pats offseason news and updates!