A picture is worth a thousand words… but this animated GIF of Tony Romo on the ground during last night’s embarrassment in Philadelphia is priceless:
And so, the heads start to roll…
No big surprises here, but the Cleveland Browns have fired head coach Romeo Crennel, the Detroit Lions have fired Rod Marinelli, and the New York Jets have fired Eric Mangini. OK, the last one is a bit of a surprise… the coach they once called “Mangenius” had a bad year (he was 23-26 overall with the Jets). I just didn’t expect the firing to come so soon.
In other news, the tests on Big Ben’s noggin came back negative, so you can expect to see him play against either the Ravens or Dolphins in two weeks.
Fixing ESPN’s Site
ESPN’s website has an annoying “feature”: a video player that starts playing the latest sports highlights as soon as you load the ESPN.com page. This makes it difficult to stealthily check scores at work, it makes the page load slowly… and it’s just all around annoying.
You can stop the video player from appearing by creating an ESPN.com account and disabling the player in the user preferences. But that’s a pain, especially if you don’t want to give ESPN your information. If you use Firefox and have AdBlock Plus installed, you can easily disable the player by opening the AdBlock preferences and adding the following to a new filter:
http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/mpf/players/*
Thanks to this site for the tip!
Two More Sports Items
Confused by the ever-increasing numbers of rules in the NFL? So is everyone else. And by “everyone else”, I mean coaches, players… even the referees themselves. Check out this article that talks about some of the more obscure rules that have come to light this season.
But at least the NFL is in good financial shape… ‘cos you can’t say the same about many NHL franchises. I don’t have an NHL team near me, so I had no idea it had come to this:
The deepest discounts are offered by the Atlanta Thrashers, Florida Panthers and New York Islanders. The Islanders’ $99 family fun pack for a game on Dec. 31 includes four tickets regularly priced at $80 each. In addition, the Isles throw in four hot dogs and soft drinks, two children’s watches, a $40 Dave & Busters voucher and a coupon for 10 per cent off at a children’s-wear store.
The Panthers are similarly generous, offering a regularly priced $42 ticket for $17. Fans also receive free parking, a combo meal and a $5 gasoline card. Parking is usually $10 at the Panthers’ arena, which means that if the other amenities are subtracted from the ticket price, you could make a case that the club is actually paying the fan to attend the game. Happy holidays!
In Atlanta, Thrasher fans can buy a family pack of four tickets and four chicken-sandwich combo meals at various prices. The most expensive package is $149, which breaks down to $37.45 a ticket, and that’s if the meal is not counted. The regular price on those seats is $300, making for a discount of 87.5 per cent.
Wow! But things are fine, right Gary?
Johnson gets 7 year contract
There were rumors that Georgia Tech head coach Paul Johnson was being wooed by Auburn “University”. Tech squashed those rumors today, signing Johnson to a 7-year, $17.7 million contract. Johnson, voted ACC Coach of the Year, will earn $2.3 million in 2009 (with unspecified “incentives” thrown in). Not bad for a guy whose team was supposed to finish at or near the bottom if the ACC; instead, Johnson went 3-1 against ranked teams, and beat Clemson, Miami, Florida State and UGA to end the regular season 9-3, the most wins for any first-year football coach in Georgia Tech’s history. And since that history includes names like John Heisman, William Alexander, and Bobby Dodd… well, that’s just impressive!
This is great news, folks!
Another Random News Dump…
– Federal regulators today announced new rules for the credit card industry. These consumer-friendly rules will hopefully cut back on some of the industry’s most egregious practices. Some examples of the new rules? Credit card companies will no longer be allowed to raise rates on existing balances; any payment above the minimum amount must apply to the balance with the highest interest rate; the minimum time before a change in terms goes into effect has been increased from 15 to 45 days; and consumers must have at least 21 days to make a payment. There are more rule changes (read about them here); unfortunately, they won’t go into effect until July, 2010… assuming we’re all not broke before then. Also, no rule was passed regarding universal default – the rule that allows Citibank to increase the rate on your Citi Visa if you’re late with a payment to Discover – but with the new Congress and the economy in the tank, I feel action will come on that soon.
– Think you can get rid of a hangover by eating greasy food, or keep your children calm by keeping them away from sugar? Think again. Researchers at Indiana University have busted these (and other) “winter food” myths. Read all about it all the BBC’s website here.
– R.I.P. to “Slammin’ Sammy” Baugh, former Redskins quarterback. He was 94. Baugh was one of the NFL’s biggest stars from 1937 to 1952, and he was also the last surviving member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s “inaugural class” of 1963. To show you how big a star Sammy was, I was born nearly 20 years after he finished playing (my parents were 4 years old when Sammy quit!), and even I knew his nickname! Rest in peace, Sammy!
– Two articles of interest for Georgia Tech football fans: this AP article talks about how coach Paul Johnson is adding several tweaks to his already-potent offense for the Chick-Fil-A Bowl. I followed Navy football for the past few years under Johnson, and I’ve been saying that Johnson hasn’t come anywhere near to using his entire Navy playbook at Georgia Tech. This, apparently, will change. Also, in this article, Johnson talks about how, despite being the winningest freshman coach in America, and despite winning against UGA, Johnson is nowhere near satisfied with his team. I like the cut of that man’s jib!
– SGAE, a Spanish group for musicians similar to America’s RIAA, has been busted by a Spanish court for secretly infiltrating weddings and other events, looking for music licensing violations. It seems that back in 2005, a SGAE investigator posing as a cameraman, infiltrated a wedding party at La Doma restaurant just outside Seville. The agency had long suspected La Doma of using music without having the requisite license. Sure enough, La Doma was found guilty of this and forced to pay a fine of €43,179. Amusingly, SGAE was fined €60,101 for violating the privacy of the wedding party. So… SGAE got their victory, but it cost them almost €18,000… not to mention all court costs and all the bad publicity!
– The Yankees just shelled out a quarter of a billion dollars for two pitchers? Seriously? Well, this just proves that, if the New York Yankees’ chartered jet collided in midair with the Dallas Cowboys’ jet… I’d burn my penis jerking off over the wreckage!
NFL approves Steelers’ restructuring
With a vote of 31-0, the NFL today unanimously approved the restructuring of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ ownership. From this article at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s website:
Under the terms of the plan, Dan Rooney and Art Rooney II together will own a 30 percent interest in the team. The sale is expected to close on March 31.
Three new partners in the Steelers also were approved by NFL owners:
• James Haslam III, 54, of Knoxville, Tenn. He is the president of Pilot Travel Centers, operator of travel centers and truckstops. Pilot, based in Nashville, Tenn., also operates 40 convenience stories in the Knoxville, Tenn., area.
• Thomas Tull, 38, of Los Angeles. He is chairman and CEO of Legendary Pictures, a film production company, which joined with Warner Bros, to co-produce and co-finance films such as The Dark Knight, 300 and Batman Begins.
• The Paul family, whose members include Donna and Robert Paul and their children Larry Paul, 44, Stephen Paul, 44 and Karen Zimmer, 39. The family’s operations are based in Pittsburgh and Los Angeles and include Ampco-Pittsburgh, a metal fabricator, TV and radio stations and cable and cell phone operations.
“We are obviously very pleased to be keeping the Steelers’ ownership within the Rooney family and are appreciative of our fellow NFL owners’ support,” Dan Rooney said. “Today’s vote ensures that the Rooney family will be associated with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the NFL for a very long time.”
Great news!
Free SMS Sports Scores!
Have you ever been out and about and wanted a sports score?
If you’ve got one of those slick new smartphones with a speedy 3G connection, it’s not a problem. But if you’re stuck with a regular old cell phone, mobile Internet is slow as hell, and downright painful to use. If you open your mobile web browser during the second quarter of a football game, chances are good that the game will be over by the time the score finally appears on your screen!
So that leaves SMS. There are dozens of free services out there that will send you sports scores via text message. The only problem with most of them is that you have to “sign up” for their service, which means that you’ll get the scores every Sunday – sometimes multiple times if you sign up for a service that sends you updates every quarter, or every time someone scores. This is also annoying, as at least eight Steelers games have been shown on local TV this year. Few things annoy me more than getting text message scores… about a game I’m watching on TV!
That’s why I’ve really taken a shine to 4INFO’s SMS sports score service. While you can sign up to get scores all season long, you can also use it on demand! Just text the name of your team (e.g. “Steelers”) to 44636 (4INFO) and, in around 15 seconds, they’ll send you the score! The service currently supports NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, PGA, NASCAR and NCAA football and basketball. They even have some “advanced features” too, like rankings, standings and schedules.
Check out this page for more information!
Quote of the Day
“We want to defend each blade of grass.”
– William Gay
Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback
Quit Whining!
I swear, this is driving me crazy! The Internets are full of Baltimore Ravens fans, bitching and whining about the “controversial” touchdown call in Sunday’s game against the Steelers. I understand where they’re coming from (see also: Troy Polamalu’s interceptions in the 2005 playoffs versus Indy and at the end of the Chargers game a few weeks ago). But still… it’s rich to hear Ratbirds fans complain about the officiating in Sunday’s game when this went on all game long:
In related news, the Steelers have jumped to the top of The Sporting News’ NFL Power Rankings. Also, check out Yahoo’s “premature playoff picture here.