Even if you have been paying minor attention, over the past weeks, and months, to the know-famous NFL-Ray Rice Domestic Abuse Scandal - let's get in the vernacular - NFL-RayRicegate is what we can start calling this - Rollo Tomasi is now entering, center stage.
TMZ released a video yesterday, showing for all, the 1-2-combo punches of the now unemployed NFL running back, his then-girlfriend-now-wife, dropping like a sack of potatoes. It's eeire and heartsicking. And, when it happened, Rice's then-girlfriend-now-wife made statements about "mutual combat' and was at Rice's side, apparently during the interview with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, and, at a press conference.
I don't know if even the most ignorant and terrible police department would interview a wife beater, with the victim in the room Rice received, to the outrage of the world, a paltry 2-game suspension, and, actually, no discipline from the NFL team that employed him, the Baltimore Ravens (who were formerly the Cleveland Brown, who then-owner Art Modell moved them in the dead of night to Baltimore). So, up until yesterday, the NFL, and Roger Goodell, and the Baltimore Ravens all thought they could get away with it. But TMZ's video, which, according to hotel people where the abuse occured, the NFL never asked for it, has exposed the NFL, Roger Goodell, and the Baltimore Ravens as a gaggle of Roland Tomasi's. They're not getting away with it.
And, now that we have an NFL-RayRicegate bubbling up, a classic Nixonian "who knew what and when", the weight of their deception is only buidling. Charlie Pierce has a good take;
" ...The National Football League was exposed as either mendacious or shockingly unempathetic. Commissioner Roger Goodell was exposed as either a liar, or as someone who should not be allowed to count his own money. (Olbermann's right. He's got to go, but he won't, because most of the NFL owners think he's handled the whole thing splendidly.) The Ravens organization was exposed as a rat's nest of soulless, profit-driven drones. (And I hope nobody in the head offices of either the NFL or the Ravens misled the local prosecutors, who now also look like idiots on the national stage, and very likely are looking for someone to blame.) And, finally, Ray Rice is out of a job ..."
Eric Wilber of Boston.Com has said "Goodell Needs to Go" Chadd Fin of 'The Boston Globe' offers - No One Looks as Horrible as Ray Rice, but NFL, Ravens Sure Did Try. When you look at this scandal, and, perhaps, Major League Baseball's plunging it's head in the sand over the steriod abuse, it's blatent how the greed over the billions these sports produce takes priority over the "right thing" to do. Once in professional sports, there was a man, the first commissioner of Major League Baseball, Federal Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who was faced with a scandal, and, didn't hesitate what to do, didn't concern himself with the greed of the game, and took definitive, and swift action - For gambling, and changing outcomes of games, he banned eight Chicago White Sox players (many say Shoeless Joe Jackson didn't deserve it), for life, the infamous Chicago Black Sox Scandal. Instead, now, we have a gaggle of Rollo Tomasi's.
As the years go by, I have become less-and-less fond of Super Bowl Sunday.
Everything, and I mean everything, both related to the game, the NFL, and even family/friends and co-workers get over-hyped, with just about anyone you bump into, breathlessly, in anxiety-soaked voices, ask "Are you going to any Super Bowl parties?"
It may come in the not-too-distant future, that anyone not going to a "Super Bowl Party" will be banished to a leprosy-like island.
The NFL has long surpassed the label of "To Big To Fail".
This is not exactly news, I know, but I've always believed that the bloat—more than a game encased within it, which either will be fun to watch or won't, but will still feature four 15-minute quarters—is the thing that puts people off about the game. The week of pump-it-up-when-you-don't-even-mean-it media coverage, all those thimblefuls of glib microanalysis, the leering reach for the nearest SEO-able semi-scandal—Did Player X RIP Player Y (VIDEO)?—all seem longer and louder and more desperate each year, and they will send you flipping to the Puppy Bowl if you're even remotely so inclined. The percentage of the Super Bowl broadcast given over advertisements expands exponentially—last year's Super Bowl featured seven more minutes of commercials than did 2001's. But this is what happens, it's what the market does: big things get bigger.
But the cellular division that powers this sort of overgrowth is not necessarily healthy, and long ago shaded towards decadent-unto-metastatic. That the Super Bowl is too hyped, too rich and too leveraged and branded and expensive and excessive is palpable, even in the corners most excited for it. It looks strong, of course, but these are steroid muscles—puffed up, built the wrong way, grounded in things that ruin.
If you can pull yourself away for whatever Animal Bowl is being fed into your television, or closedown the zillion tabs and take a break from watching the Super Bowl commercials, take a jump over to Roth's post
When I heard the news of his death late last evening, I immediately thought about the three, or four, generations that would only know of Merlin Olsen from his role on "Little House on the Prairie".
Merlin Olsen, the Hall of Fame tackle who anchored the Los Angeles Rams’ Fearsome Foursome, the line that glamorized defensive play in the NFL, died early yesterday at a hospital in Duarte, Calif. He was 69.
His brother Orrin announced his death, saying Mr. Olsen had been treated for mesothelioma, a form of cancer.
Mr. Olsen was also a longtime color commentator for NBC’s pro football and Rose Bowl telecasts, working with Dick Enberg, and he acted on television, most prominently as the very large and bearded Jonathan Garvey in NBC’s “Little House on the Prairie’’ and in his own series, “Father Murphy.’’
The Rams of the mid-1960s were renowned for defensive linemen who earned a collective nickname a decade before the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Steel Curtain.
[snip]
Mr. Olsen believed that the Fearsome Foursome could have excelled in any era.
“What made the Foursome unique, I think, is that we could have fit in extremely comfortably in the modern game,’’ he told The Orange County Register in 1997. He estimated that the line’s average weight was 275 pounds and said that “there was not a weight lifter in the group.’’
“Imagine how big we’d be today,’’ he added.
“We could all run,’’ Mr. Olsen said. “The other thing we had going for us was a rare chemistry. There was also a very special kind of unselfishness.’’
As a youth in the 1960's, despite growing up in Boston, the lowly AFL, and woeful Boston Patriots, were not on our radar.
We were NFL, baby, all the way.
And, after a brief flirt, with the mid-60's Dallas Cowboys (chiefly due to Chuck Howley, Bob Lily and, at the time, the world's fastest human, Bob Hayes), the Los Angeles Rams became our favorite team, and specifically due to the legendary "Fearsome Foursome" that Merlin Olsen helped anchor.
But the brass ring, the newly-created Super Bowl, eluded the LA Rams, thwarted by a new rival out of the frozen tundra, the Minnesota Vikings, and their soon-to-be-legendary front four, the Purple People Eaters(though, the Vikings would go on to lose four Super Bowls).
Whether you remember Olsen as "Jonathan Garvey", or one of the Fearsome Foursome that terrified NFL quarterbacks, it's a sad day, another piece from the childhood memory block chipped away.
Sources tell The Garlic that, in his State-on-the-Union address Wednesday evening, President Barack Obama will lay out steps to a program that will delay the Super Bowl, scheduled for February 7th, so that a bailout plan for the New York Jets can be worked out.
Obama will cite that the "hopes and dreams" of New York Jets fans are "too big to fail", and that it is imperative for the government to step in, a prevent a complete meltdown.
Additionally, unnamed Administration officials were looking for a "Katrina-Sept 11th Super Bowl", to augment other metaphorical imagery the President will have in his SOTU speech;
"We need to build a bridge, from Namath, to New Orleans, so that the engine of passion, held so dearly by Jets and Saints fans, two cities badly scarred in our recent history, can continue to rumble, to resonate, and be a beacon to our continued economic growth.
Details of the Jets Bailout plan are sketchy, and it is not clear if it will contain oversight, or regulations, limiting bonuses of team executives.
A spokesperson for the NFL indicated the league is in discussions with the Obama White House, and, should the Super Bowl be delayed, the plans would be to continue with celebrity-filled parties, and television programs highlighting Super Bowl commercials.
We're sorry, so sorry That you are such a fool You didn't know Buying an NFL team could be so cruel Oh, oh, oh, oh Uh, oh Oh, yes
You tell us mistakes Are part of being a Dittohead But that don't right The wrong that's been done
Spoken: (We're sorry) We're sorry (So sorry) So sorry Please accept our non-apology But Racism isn't blind And you were to blind to see Oh, oh, oh, oh Uh, oh Oh, yes
You tell us mistakes Are part of being a Dittohead But that don't right The wrong that's been done Oh, oh, oh, oh Uh, oh Oh, yes
We're sorry, so sorry Please accept our non-apology But Racism isn't blind And you were to blind to see (Sorry)
There's a certain irony, for the heralded leader of the PartyofNoicans, to have the private sector, their lauded private sector, blanch and vomit at the prospects of letting him into their party.
The NFL may be run -- at the macro level -- as the most socialistic major enterprise in American life, since every team gets an equal paycheck from the biggest pool of revenue, TV money, regardless of whether it plays in the Big Apple or tiny Jacksonville. Yet pro football players live a life that is Reaganism on steroids (it's just an expression) when it comes to embracing free-market capitalism, thanks to another "free," as in free agency. A top player lives the American Dream of freedom to pursue the highest paycheck he wants, or to spurn that top bidder for the city of his choice...or even the coach or team owner of his choice.
Oh, but the Dittoheads, and Flying Monkeys, are screeching, flinging their feces around, that this is the end of America, that the liberals are punishing Free Speech.
Precisely. The most serious free speech issue in America right now is one rich white asshole being told by other rich white assholes that he can’t join their club. On that point we must all agree.
[snip]
Not sure which is funnier, though, the right-wing idiots now threatening to boycott the NFL, or the right-wing idiots saying Limbaugh has grounds for a civil rights lawsuit. The man is toxic, and that’s his own damn screechy needy tantrum-throwing wannabe-sports-involved fault.
But sadly, all this only, to mix sports metaphors, grooves right into Rushbo's strike zone.
He can lighten up, take some pressure off of his boot on the throat of the PartyofNoicans, and go Jihad on the NFL for the next 10-weeks, plus playoffs and Superbowl.
Every fumble, every pass interception, every missed tackle, can be highlighted, complete with racial overtones, jokes, and, maybe a diddy, or two.
The NFL owners, if they don't know it, are now subject to legions of Dittoheads combing through their businesses, Googling their little paws off, maybe, even, digging through their home trash, to come up with embarrassing dirt that Mr. Drug Addict can spew out and mock (remaining, as he does, completely without any self-awareness, that he wanted to be ONE OF THEM).
No, Rushbo getting the boot isn't the end of something, it is the beginning of something else.
You might as well start an office pool, betting on which announcer, or analyst, covering a game in which the newly-chastened Michael Vick is playing in, a close game, going down to the wire, and utters "We got a real dog fight here today."
Or, some banal comment, for a game played in Cleveland, about Vick needing to stay away from "the dawg pound."
That is, of course, if the most notorious Dogfighting producer gets to play in the NFL again.
Michael Vick is back in the NFL. Now all he needs is a team to play for.
Vick, free after serving 18 months in prison for running a dogfighting ring, was reinstated with conditions by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on Monday.
Vick can immediately take part in preseason practices, workouts and meetings and can play in the final two preseason games -- if he can find a team that will sign him. A number of teams have already said they would not.
Once the season begins, Vick may participate in all team activities except games, and Goodell said he would consider Vick for full reinstatement by Week 6 (Oct. 18-19) at the latest.
Hmmm ...
Aside from the obvious PR two-step any team will have to perform, they're looking at a guy, 29-years-old, having sat out two-years, and may have to sit out the first six-weeks of the season.
I wouldn't be expecting a stampede of NFL General Managers running towards Vick, with crumpled contracts balled up in their fists.
Breathtakingly effective as a runner but erratic -- often terrible -- as a passer. Add to that scouting report that he's now 29 and comes with all kinds of public-relations baggage and you get a mystifying part of the equation. More mystifying than how much longer Vick might have to sit in '09.
He wasn't that much of a factor in his final two seasons of 2005-06, when the Falcons went 15-16 with Vick as a starter.
He has had one season where his passer rating was plus-80. He was drilled for 45 sacks in 2006, and his completion percentage has never topped 56.4% for a season.
Yes, he did rush for an astounding 1,039 yards in 2006, but after two seasons off can his wheels still roll like that? And is there a team that wants its quarterback running that much?
While it may be that Vick doesn't see it this way, and believes he can come back into the league with a full head of steam (which Cherner and Weir offer a link, to Top 10 Most Disappointing Comebacks, and RealClearSports is wrong to have Bob Cousy on the list; Cousey, frustrated with the team he was coaching, the Cincinnati Royals, activated himself, drawing the ire of Red Auerbach, who demanded compensation, since Cousy retired from the Boston Celtics in 1963; RealClearSports could have posted one of the great bar stumpers of all-time - Who is the only person that can say he was traded for Bob Cousy? ... Try Bill Dinwiddie), he is, as we referenced above, chastened;
Vick has already taken steps to rebuild his image.
He met with the president of the Humane Society of the United States while serving his federal sentence at Leavenworth, Kan. He plans to work with HSUS in a program designed to steer inner city youth away from dogfighting. He was not permitted to work with the program while in custody.
Ed Sayres, president of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said the organization hopes Vick "rises to the occasion and proves worthy of the rare second chance Commissioner Goodell has granted him."
"Opportunities for redemption are rare -- but that is exactly the opportunity that awaits Mr. Vick," he said.
Well, we do like second-chance opportunities, and for us today, that means a Retro Garlic, to what turned out to be one of our most popular posts;
Even though I, long ago, stopped being a die-hard, life-revolving-around, sports fan (hey, after the "it's only a game", it becomes really big business) it is, nonetheless, very sweet to see the New England Patriots and their 16-0 perfect season.
I am just old enough to have sat in the bleachers set up in leftfield (in front of the Green Monster), to watch the Boston Patriots, of the AFL, led by Babe Parilli, Jim "Bo" Nance (whose main rival was Buffalo Bill fullbackCookie Gilchrist - "Lookie, Lookie, Here Comes Cookie"), and Gino Cappelletti, at Fenway Park, in the early 60's ... I was at the preseason game in 1969 (or 1970), played at Boston College, when the stands caught fire ... I was at the opening game of 1970 season, played at Harvard Stadium (the year before they moved to Foxborough), when Bob Gladieux, sitting in the stands, drinking and smoking dope, was paged over the PA system to report to the locker room, where he suited up moments before the kickoff.
For much of my youth, and into early adulthood, the word "hapless" was often attached to the Boston/New England Patriots.
And with that experience, it's almost impossible to comprehend the achievements and success of the current team.
While it would be cool for any team to go undefeated, it is rather sweet to watch the Patriots do it.
9. California Senator Diane Feinstein told him before the game, that, along with the Telecom Immunity, she'd vote that any interceptions he threw, he'd get immunity also and they won't count against his record
Not expecting to see any action in the game, and after a night out-on-the-town, McGee was pressed into play after an injury to star receiver Boyd Dowler forced him to the sidelines.
McGee will live in posterity as the first person to score a Super Bowl touchdown, making a dazzling one-handed catch for a 37-yard TD. McGee went on to score another touchdown, ending the day with seven receptions for 138 yards.
Following his football career, Max McGee enjoyed success in developing restaurants and as a football television commentator.
According to a family friend, McGee was out partying the night before his death, getting virtually no sleep before attempting to clean the leaves from his roof.
"Max had no earthly idea he was going to die that day," said the friend.
Appeals To NFL Commissioner To Make Big Game "Color-Blind"; Biden Weighs In, Backs Coaches
Pregame preparations for Super Bowl XLI came to a screeching halt today, after Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO) threatened to seek a court injunction to ban the big game.
Tancredo is upset that, for the first time in its' history, the Super Bowl will be coached by two African-Americans.
"It is utterly hypocritical for the NFL to extol the virtues of a color-blind league while officially sanctioning coaches that are based solely on race," said Tancredo.
Tancredo made his threats, to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, after reports the Congressman said were made to him, that freshman Rep. Stephen Cohen (D-TN ) could not join the coaching staffs of either Super Bowl team because he is white.
Senator Joe Biden (D-MD), who announced his intentions of running for president yesterday, came to the defense of Dungy and Smith, saying the first mainstream African American [coaches] who are articulate and bright and clean and nice-looking guys. I mean, that's a storybook, man."
The Colorado Congressman states he's asked the officials in Miami, officials in Florida, and even has been asked the White House, for some emergency funding and action to erect 7-miles of the 700-mile fence he's called for at the border, outside the Super Bowl.
"They'll be pouring into the Super Bowl," lamented Tancredo, "denying good, hard-working American citizens the chance to take a seat at the biggest game of the year."
Tancredo, when reached by The Garlic, would not confirm that he plans on halting the Super Bowl, however, he indicated that he has made arrangements for the Arizona Minutemen sit in lawn chairs outside of Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami, and monitor the fans attending the Super Bowel for any illegal immigrants.
"It is utterly hypocritical for the NFL to extol the virtues of a color-blind league while officially sanctioning coaches that are based solely on race," said Tancredo.
Bush May Tap Coulter For Energy Source Studies Cite Time Cover Girl "Has Enormous Capacity"
Following his Press Conference last evening, President Bush, when pressed by reporters for more details about his proposed Energy Bill, indicated that he is considering asking Congress for appropriations to develop Ann Coulter as an alternative energy source.
"She has enormous capacity" the President said. "Boy, if we could harness just about half of what she puts out, I'll tell you, I wouldn't trade in my SUV"
The right-wing, conservative commentator, recently featured on the cover of Time Magazine, has been a perpetual streak of energy, offering a wide range of criticism, aimed chiefly at Democrats and Liberals, on virtually any topic.
Coulter has attacked, among many, former President Clinton, the late Princess Diana, Ted Kennedy, former Ambassador Pamela Harriman, Vietnam veterans, National Review editor Richard Lowry, Rep. Christopher Shays (D-CT), as well as Hustler publisher Larry Flynt, actress/singer Barbra Streisand and rapper Sister Souljah
She ascribed that Princess Diana and Ambassador Harriman were "whores".
Following the September 11th attacks, Coulter advocated, referring to the terrorists, that we should "invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity." Coulter, when criticized for the remarks, defended them, adding further;
"Congress could pass a law tomorrow requiring that all aliens from Arabic countries leave....We should require passports to fly domestically. Passports can be forged, but they can also be checked with the home country in case of any suspicious-looking swarthy males."
President Bush offered that Department of Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman had his staff conduct a study of Coulter and, using a complicated formula, the results show that Coulter puts out nearly as much energy as a nuclear reactor.
"I think a lot of neighborhoods wouldn't mind if we built more Ann Coulter's around them", joked the President.
When pressed how he would go about employing Coulter as an energy source, the President stressed that "cloning" would not be involved. He did state that adult stem cells would be involved and the process would be well within Federal guidelines on the use of stem cells.
Bush stated that tapping Coulter as an energy source would be part of the package of the bill he will be sending to Congress. In his Press Conference, Bush challenged Congress to pass the Energy Bill by this summer.
Democrat Leaders were cautious in commenting on the President's proposal. Rep. Nancy Pelosi indicated that "let's wait and see the entire bill … If he's putting something that outrageous in it, there's likely something else that he really wants".
Republicans, upon hearing some of the details hailed the President's choice of Coulter as "bold"
Coulter's commentary and writings are often, over-the-top, cartoonish and very much based in the standard tirades of many other conservative pundits. Coulter often attaches to Democrats and Liberals certain tags and code words, meant to distort the issue and often defends conservatives, citing unending persecution.
Coulter could not be reached, however a representative did confirm the Ms. Coulter has been in talks with President Bush and is thrilled that she could be in position to become an energy source for the nation. The representative offered that Ms. Coulter asked the President if her "energy can only be used in strong, Republican districts"
More Steroid Hearings The NFL Goes To Congress McGwire Surprise Witness; Still Not Talking
The National Football League went before Congress on Wednesday, to give testimony as to it's Steroid Policy and the efforts they are employing to keep the illegal drug out.
Commissioner Paul Tagliabue told Congress that since 1989, 111 players have tested positively. Of that group, 54 were suspended and 57 chose to retire. Tagliabue defended the NFL policies, citing that they are effective.
Tagliabue did acknowledge that advances are being made in masking the use of steroids but that is a "overall problem", one not related solely to the NFL.
The Congressional panel complimented NFLPA Director Gene Upshaw, for his involvement and monitoring the league's drug program, highlighting the contrast versus Major League Baseball. In the hearing last month, baseball executives were often confused, or outright wrong, about what their steroid policy was and who was administering it.
In a surprise move yesterday, the panel called back former baseball slugger Mark McGwire. Citing he had the "size of a football player", the panel offered McGwire a second opportunity to offer his testimony as to his steroid use.
McGwire again cited that he doesn't "talk about the past".
McGwire went on to testify that he does watch NFL games, both on television as well as attending in person and is looking forward to the upcoming season this Fall. When pressed by the panel, McGwire did admit that he "occasionally" wagers on football games, both professional and college.
J. Thomas Duffy created and lauched 'The Garlic in 2005.
Mr. Duffy is an accomplished writer, with experience as a newspaper reporter, radio writer, comedy and stand-up writer, the author of three children's books (unpublished, so far) and, and, through a good number of his writing experience, actually received payment for it.
Mr. Duffy is also a Contributing Editor on the blog, 'The Reaction' and a Contributing Writer to the blog 'The Moderate Voice.
In his spare time, Mr. Duffy likes to promulgate that is actually the dog salivating that caused Pavlov to ring the bell.
