Tag: Bleacher Report

McNabb and T.O. Continue to Feud 15 Years Later While the Patriots March On

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Yahoo – Old grudges die hard. In 2005, Terrell Owens engaged in one of the most public holdouts in NFL history…his feud with teammates and repeated jabs at quarterback Donovan McNabb led to locker-room discord. The Eagles devolved that season from NFC champions to 6-10 and last place in the NFC East.

For that, McNabb is still agitated. He recounted the experience in an interview with Bleacher Report’s Master Tes released on Wednesday and blames Owens for breaking up a contender.

“I thought that was the major distraction for us,” McNabb said. “He’s doing sit-ups, he’s doing push-ups, he’s playing basketball, he’s ordering pizza for the people out there, and we’re sitting there in training camp just like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’ …

“This is like ‘Days Of Our Lives.’ It’s unbelievable. But that was something that kind of broke us up.”

And this is why the Patriots are the Patriots and every other team in the NFL is forever chasing their own tails. Fifteen fucking years later, T.O. and Donovan McNabb are still sniping at each other in the media. McNabb even says in the interview with Bleacher Report that T.O. is what broke up the Eagles, which is the softest shit I’ve ever heard. Was T.O. an all-time asshole diva receiver? Yup, you bet. But, T.O. is also the reason the Eagles were ever that good. In 2004 McNabb threw 31 touchdowns, 14 of which went to Owens. It was also the first, and only, time McNabb threw more than 25 touchdowns.

But, I’m not here to bash McNabb because he was also one of the godfathers, well more like a distant uncle I guess, of the mobile QB revolution we see today. The guy was fun as all hell to watch so if he wants to bitch about T.O. in 2020 go for it.

My point is this is exactly why no team has ever replicated the Patriots’ run of dominance. The Pats literally had the biggest asshole in the league on the team this year in Antonio Brown. A guy who forced his way out of Pittsburgh, torpedoed his short stint with the Raiders, and then got cut by the Pats after a whole bunch of (alleged) dirtbag behavior came out. So the Pats dropped him like a bad habit and his name was never uttered again like he was Beetlejuice.

The Patriots are just experts in PR and damage control. AB is a legitimate disaster waiting to happen and currently has a warrant out for his arrest, but the team never let it become a distraction. This is the same team that, albeit disappointingly briefly, rostered Tim Tebow without any distraction, gave new life to perceived diva Randy Moss, and even had a convicted murderer on the team in Aaron Hernandez without it breaking up the team.
So my point is, T.O. did not ruin the Eagles and cause them to go from playing in the Super Bowl to finishing last in the NFC East the next year. The Eagles did that to themselves.

Hero Helps His Wife Prep for Her MLB Broadcasting Debut by Playing Video Games

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Yahoo – Jenny Cavnar didn’t have long to prep before providing Colorado Rockies play-by-play. She found out she would have to fill the role the day before the game, so she didn’t have a lot of options to get in some last-minute practice before her play-by-play debut. That’s when her husband hatched a plan, according to Joon Lee of Bleacher Report. He would play “MLB: The Show” and she would call his game..They fired up the game, selected the San Diego Padres as the Rockies’ opponent — since that was the matchup Cavnar would call the next day — and gave it a shot.

Shoutout to this guy for getting massive brownie points for helping his wife prep for the biggest day of her career while ALSO playing PS4 at the same time. His wife is getting called up to the big leagues, literally, to not only call a professional baseball game which is huge, but also be one of the first women to ever do it. Pressure cooker like you read about.

So what does my man do? Johnny on the spot here with the idea to have his wife simply call his game of The Show. He gets to do absolutely nothing while not even really having to talk to his wife while also appearing to be the most helpful husband in America.
This guy is bred for greatness. I feel like this should be a Miller Lite commercial or better yet Dave Chappelle should re-enact this scenario for an episode of Great Moments in Hookup History.

PS – I’ve bought two baseball games in the 13 years since the MVP Baseball franchise breathed its last breath in 2005 because every game since then is hot garbage. If I ever run for public office that will be my platform. #MakeMVPBaseballAgain

76ers Now Using Virtual Reality to Try and Fix Markelle Fultz

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Bleacher Report – The Philadelphia 76ers have reportedly begun using virtual reality technology with guard Markelle Fultz as part of his rehabilitation, hoping he can rebuild confidence in his ailing jumper. Kyle Neubeck of the Philly Voice profiled Fultz’s search for his lost jumper and included the tidbit of information Monday. The Sixers are reportedly using the technology to help Fultz “visualize the mechanics he’ll use in a game, to remember how easy it once was for him to rise up with the ball and shoot from anywhere on the court and to be able to do so without the glare of the cameras or other people around him.”

Markelle Fultz has legitimately become one of the strangest stories in recent NBA history. The No. 1 overall pick that was dynamite in his lone year playing college ball, plays 4 horrendous games in the NBA, the team cites a shoulder injury, and then months later it comes out that he has some kind of hitch in his shot.

This is a guy who shot over 40% from 3-point land in college. All of a sudden he can’t hit a jump shot? What? I suppose it could just be a case of the yips, but that doesn’t explain why he can’t play at all. Rajon Rondo couldn’t shoot for shit, but he was (is) still a successful point guard in the NBA. Now the 76ers are busting out the Virtual Reality goggles to try and fix Fultz? This story just gets weirder and weirder.

You wanna know how to fix his jump shot? Have him recite the profiles of all the girls in Playboy. Boom. Problem solved.

Jaylen Brown is a Damn Renaissance Man

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Jaylen Brown is a No. 3 overall pick, an NBA Players Union rep, in the midst of a breakout season out on an elite team, and he can play Dr. Dre jams on piano.

Not to mention he just turned 21. This kid is a damn renaissance man and I love it. Not to mention he’s a fashion icon with his pre-game fits.

I’d be pretty bummed I didn’t go to his meet and greet at the Cambridgeside Galleria last year if everyone hadn’t gotten maced by the cops. Now its time for the weekend, so hit that Dre and just ride to it.

Carl Crawford Will Probably Blame the Red Sox for this Mean Headline

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Get it? Because Carl Crawford bitched and moaned about the Red Sox for years like the team forced him to sign a $142 million contract. Poor guy. Bleacher Report just smoked him with that headline. By the way, Crawford is STILL on that original contract the Red Sox signed him to back when I was still in college.

“Now in the final weeks of the monster seven-year, $142 million deal he signed before the 2011 season, Crawford is being paid nearly $22 million by the Dodgers this summer to not play baseball.” 

And guess what? I alllllmost started feeling bad for the guy with quotes like this:

“It just seems like my hamstrings started hurting one day and never stopped,” Crawford shrugs, shaking his head. “Then you compensate, and something else hurts.”

As a guy rapidly nearing 30 I can totally relate to my body just falling apart. My knees randomly hurt and I never played past high school.

And this:

“Lonely? Nah,” Crawford, who turned 36 last month, says from behind that wall. He gets that question a lot, and it’s easy to see why…It’s so funny, man,” he says. “I’d really like to get it on record: Everybody thinks I’m sad and lonely, and it’s just not the case. It’s not the case at all.”

I really was turning a corner on Carl Crawford. I was almost there. But then he starts up with THIS shit all over again. Even in retirement, collecting $22 million to do nothing, he still talks shit about Boston.

A naturally shy, private person, Crawford was no match for the high-volume baseball experience of Fenway Park. Former outfielder Torii Hunter was with the Los Angeles Angels at the time and attempted to recruit Crawford there, but the Boston money spoke louder. “I should have listened, man. They say, ‘Don’t go chasing waterfalls,” 

He hated Boston. The feeling was mutual. And after the Dodgers acquired him…he was more than happy to sling public arrows at Boston every chance he got. “I carried hate for that city for a long time,” Crawford says. “But now, I’m over that. I feel much better, because I learned that you can’t hate something or you never get over it. It definitely was a learning experience, definitely that. I got that out of it, if nothing else.”

Like we ruined his life. You were massively overpaid and massively underperformed and the city let you know about it. For better or for worse, thats Boston. We shit you not.

I am Officially Boycotting the CFL for Barring Johnny Manziel

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Bleacher Report – The CFL announced Wednesday that it has barred quarterback Johnny Manziel from signing a contract to play in the league during the 2017 season. While Johnny Football won’t be permitted to play north of the border in 2017, the CFL left the door open for him to join the league in 2018 provided he “meets certain conditions.” Manziel is on the Hamilton Tiger-Cats’ negotiation list, and the CFL announced earlier this month it had extended the team’s 10-day window to sign him so the league could independently evaluate him, per ESPN.com’s Kevin Seifert.By pushing the window back again to Nov. 30, Hamilton will have a chance to negotiate a contract with Manziel for 2018 following the conclusion of the 2017 campaign.

This is some straight up BULLSHIT. The CFL basically told Johnny sorry, try again next year, all while imposing a double secret probation.

No, seriously, they did that.

“Mr. Manziel will be eligible to sign a contract for the 2018 season and, if Mr. Manziel meets certain conditions that have been spelled out by the Commissioner, the CFL will register that contract. The specifics of those conditions are confidential and will not be disclosed.”

I bet even Josh Gordon read that and said, wow Johnny you’re really getting fucked here. So it is with much sadness that I must boycott the Canadian Football League until my boy Johnny Manziel is given the opportunity to tear up that goofy ass extra wide field with uprights in the endzone. #FreeJohnnyFootball

 

LeBron Gives Celtics Rivalry Some Juice with Latest Comments on Kyrie Irving

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I for one am ecstatic that the Celtics-LeBron rivalry is getting some much needed juice. I’ll always love going up against LeBron, but it really hasn’t been the same since the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals. Ya know when he ripped our guts out in Game 6 with an otherworldly performance? Yea that was the final stand of the Big 3 and the launching of the LeBron we know now.

Its been a long road back but the Celtics are finally competing with LeBron for a trip to the Finals once again. He’s just been the one coming out of the East for the last 7 years in a row… So its been a little one sided. And while playing LeBron is always contentious, I feel like we haven’t really had that venom since Pierce, KG, and Rondo left the team. Rondo was the last guy who visibly hated LeBron James. So these games just haven’t had that extra juice.

Until now.

Kyrie Irving seemed to have had enough of LeBron son-ing him and by LeBron’s comments at Media Day today I can see why.

“I tried to do whatever I could to help the kid out and be the best player he could be…Other than that, I wish the kid great health and the kid wanted to do what’s best for his career.” via UPROXX

THAT. That right there is the condescending shit I’m sure Irving was sick of. Now, yes, LeBron is the best player in the world and you’d be stupid not to take his advice, but there comes a time and a point where you gotta stop treating people like children, which LeBron seems to be missing here.

Bleacher Report even said as much, citing a Stephen A. Smith report on the situation:

“James showed a little disrespect Monday while referring to his former teammate as “the kid,” which was apparently an underlying problem in their relationship. Stephen A. Smith of The Undefeated noted there was a problem of the veteran treating Irving like a child.”

So Kyrie said enough of this shit and shot his way out of town. Followed up by cryptic silences and then his since viral appearance on First Take where he basically told LeBron to fuck himself.

Now we’ve got LeBron coming out with this sob story like a scorned lover saying “I tried to do whatever I could to help the kid out.”

Don’t give me that bullshit LeBron. Kyrie Irving carried the Cavs down the stretch in Game 7 of the 2016 Finals and hit the goddamn game winner and ya didn’t even mention his name once afterwards. So Kyrie was over it, time to move on. Now what would make it all the sweeter? Beating LeBron on the way of course.

But, I gotta give respect where its due though because thats what makes me a Big-J Journalist. As soft as LeBron comes off at times, this was an A+ response when asked what advice he’d give Kyrie now. Sounds like something Kobe would have said in his prime:

“If my son went to another team and asked for advice, I ain’t giving him s–t,” he told the media, per Ben Axelrod of WKYC.

Bruins in Free Fall; Reportedly Discussing Trading Rookie Defenseman Brandon Carlo

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CSNNE – “The entire Bruins management group should be fired on the spot if they trade a 20-year-old, top pairing shutdown defenseman on an entry level contract like [Brandon] Carlo unless they are getting a bona fide superstar in return…[Gabriel] Landeskog is not a bona fide superstar. He’s a good player that’s topped out at 26 goals and 65 points in the NHL…If the price were right for Landeskog it would make all the sense in the world for the Bruins to deal him, but it’s a giant honking red flag that Colorado is looking to unload a player like him that’s signed for a reasonable $5.5 million price tag over the next four seasons. Teams don’t trade young players like that with term unless there’s more to the story, and that’s something the Bruins would do well to consider before giving up a player that could be a top-4 shutdown defenseman in Boston for the next 10 years.“

It’s that time of year again; the annual Bruins make a panic trade and move key assets just to maybe try and get the No. 8 seed. They’ve done it the last two years, trading away prospects and draft picks for guys like John Michael Lyles. I mean to be fair the Bruins haven’t traded away a really good young player in like 3 years.

Coming into the year, the Bruins defense core was supposed to be a disaster and would ultimately be what sank the team. Except Chara has played very well (and stayed healthy), Krug’s been solid, even McQuaid has made an impact this year with his physicality (when the linesmen aren’t holding his arms down). But, the emergence of Brandon Carlo as a top pairing defenseman has been the lone bright spot to this so far shitty season. Guy is a 20 year old rookie who has been playing like a future centerpiece.

Now if the rumors from Bleacher Report are true, then the Bruins are looking to make a deal for Colorado’s winger Gabriel Landeskog. Landeskog is 24, was a former No. 2 overall pick and has four 20 goal seasons. So why are the Avalanche looking to get rid of him?

Sounds like a pretty good player to get back, but I’m skeptical. I’m with Haggs on this one; red flag city. This team is a dumpster fire that is probably going to miss the playoffs again. I don’t want to see the Bruins burn the prime of guys like Bergeron, Rask and Marchand, but I also don’t want to see young guys getting dealt in panic moves just to get the No. 8 seed.

rask

Or who knows, maybe this is our version of the Dallas Tyler Seguin trade. Maybe we’re getting a steal because the other team is run by morons for a change.

seguin