June 2008 Archives

June 24, 2008

Adam Jones not happy with Don Imus

This is what Cowboys cornerback Adam Jones has to say about what Don Imus said about him yesterday.

"I'm truly upset about the comments," Jones said. "Obviously Mr. Imus has problems with African-Americans. I'm upset, and I hope the station he works for handles it accordingly. I will pray for him."

Imus is defending himself over his comments.

"I meant that he was being picked on because he's black," Imus said in the statement.

I personally think this is the end for Imus.

And, if it is, I personally don't care.

He has been unfunny and irrelevant for years. The only time you hear his name is when he says stupid and/or racist things.

June 23, 2008

The Giants have a Craphonso, but not a J-Load

Just three days after claiming wide receiver Craphonso Thorpe off waivers, the Giants said goodbye to quarterback Jared Lorenzen, the portly quarterback often referred to as J-Load ... or the Hefty Lefty ... or the Lord of the Ringdings.

He was a good sport about the fact he might have been the biggest quarterback in NFL history.

He has a great arm, but got caught in a numbers game after the Giants drafted Andre Woodson, another Kentucky alum, and signed David Carr.

Uh-oh. Imus said something ... this time about Pacman

I don't mean to competely ruin Neil Best's life - I really don't. Besides, he's got his hands full with reporting about whether Mike & The Mad Dog are about to leave WFAN.

But Don Imus said something on his radio program this morning that will potentially get him in hot water again. And maybe fired again.

Warner Wolf was doing a news/sports update about Pacman Jones - oops, it's Adam Jones - and Wolf mentioned how Jones had been arrested half a dozen times before being suspended by the NFL. And how Jones now wants to drop the Pacman nickname.

Imus asked what color Jones is.

Oy.

I haven't listened to Imus in years. I hate to say it, but it seems like once he addressed his substance abuse issues he became unfunny and unlistenable.

The mere mention of his name does generate page views, however, so someone is paying attention.

Again, Best, I'm sorry. I hope you don't go insane.

I'm on vacation.

I have to get some gas for my propane tank because we're gonna barbecue some chicken tonight. We will then take the kids to see Kung Fu Panda.


Boland has a lot on his mind

He offers a suggestion to Jets owner Woody Johnson to write a letter to Jets' season ticket holders scrapping this whole idea of personal seat licenses (PSL's) to finance the Jets' new stadium venture with the Giants. bubblingcauldron.gif

It is a long letter.

It makes many good arguments.

Woody Johnson would be a hero to thousands of Jets fans if he actually wrote it.

In the end, Boland's suggested missive will fall on deaf ears, because there is no possible way the Jets will not saddle their fans with PSL's in some form or another.

We will be providing you with many, many articles in the coming weeks, months and years about PSL's, because they will conceivably affect nearly every Jets and Giants season ticket holder.

There will be many articles and columns critical of the idea. I'm sure I will write my share.

In the end, none of it will make a difference. The Giants and Jets will charge their fans gazillions of dollars collectively in PSL's, just as almost every other team that has constructed new stadiums in recent years.

If Neil Best keeps this up ...

... he will go insane.

Clinically insane. Or close to it, anyway. scream2.JPG

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, there is a psychiatrist in Oregon who believes that there are people out there so addicted to the Internet. According to Dr. Jerald Block of the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, people who spend too much time on the Internet - and we assume that includes obsessive-compulsive bloggers like Best - suffer four symptoms:

1. They forget to eat and sleep.

2. They need more advanced technology or more hours online as they develop 'resistance' to the pleasure given by their current system.

3. If they are deprived of their computer, they experience genuine withdrawal symptoms.

4. The victims also begin to have more arguments, to suffer fatigue, to get lower marks in tests and to feel isolated from society.

Dr. Block makes no mention of an addiction to page views, an affliction suffered by Best and every other blogger that ever existed. And he doesn't offer a guess as to blogging lifespan. But he does offer some fascinating - and disturbing - views of life on the Internet.

That said, we feel this is a fine to say that, in the interests of our own sanity, we'll be blogging slightly less in the coming days. The combination of a slow news cycle in the NFL, the need to spend far more time with my family because there is never enough time to do so, and the need to make sure my head doesn't explode before training camp begins are all factors in this decision.

Hope you understand.

Hope Best can do the same, although we suspect his clinical disorder is far beyond what anyone has seen in the newspaper industry. In the meantime, check out Best's scoop on Mike & the Mad Dog potentially being on the rocks.

And other assorted tidbits in the world of media.

June 22, 2008

Giants' new receiver has an ... um ... unusual name

The Giants claimed a receiver off waivers from the Jaguars the other day, although he'll have a hard time cracking a lineup that already includes Plaxico Burress, Steve Smith, Amani Toomer, Sinorice Moss and Mario Manningham.

But the new wideout does stand out in one respect. He has one of the most unusual names we've ever come across: Craphonso Thorpe.

As far as we can tell, his first name was given to him by his father, who merged his own names of Craig and Alphonso to come up with Craphonso. So, it's pronounced Cra-fonso.

I'm just wondering if his teachers pronounced it that way on the first day of school. Or if his teammates might choose to break the name up into two syllables, the first of which ends in a "p" sound.

I'm sure he's a nice fellow. I wish him luck in his new endeavor.

Javon Walker's story doesn't add up

The Raiders' receiver, involved in an altercation last week in Las Vegas, said he was taken out of his hotel room, beaten up, robbed and dragged out of the hotel and into the street, where he was left. norm.jpg

Surveillance tapes indicate that may not have been the case.

Walker was found in a pool of blood around 7:30 a.m. Monday about a block east of Las Vegas Boulevard. The Hard Rock Hotel has confirmed Walker left Body English nightclub sometime after 3 a.m., after spraying clubgoers with champagne. Walker also was seen at an after-party in the Hard Rock's penthouse suite. A Hard Rock public relations representative said the hotel had no information on when Walker left the property, according to Norm Clarke (pictured) of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

"I was just back at my room, and at about 5:30 in the morning," Walker told TheDirty.com, "I got a knock at the door. I opened it, and three guys with guns were there. They cracked me in the head a few times, knocking me unconscious. They then robbed me of everything I had; my watch, money, everything. Somehow they got me to a car and dropped me off in the street. That's what happened."


Please do not call him Pacman any more

Cowboys cornerback Adam Jones, who has gone by the nickname "Pacman" for as long as he can remember, does not want to be referred to with that moniker any longer.

He's trying to change his image, in case you hadn't heard.

Why do football players keep misbehaving?!?!

This time it's Titans defensive end Jevon Kearse getting his name into the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

He was charged with DUIin Tennessee.

June 19, 2008

Look-a-likes: Jerry Manuel and Morgan Freeman

The Mets' interim manager and the award-winning actor (one of What About Bob's personal faves.)

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I once saw Don Zimmer naked

I believe it was the 1990 season, and Zimmer was manager of the Cubs.

I was doing sidebars on a Mets-Cubs game at Shea for Newsday, where I had started the year before as a backup on the Giants and Jets beats. As I'd explained to Boland, who has been covering a bit of baseball these days, covering the occasional baseball game was part of a young(er) football writer's responsibilities, although there were no live blogs at that time. Nor were there any blogs. Or high-speed Internet, for that matter. zimmer.jpg

Anyway, I don't recall the specific details of the game, other than Zimmer had kept his pitcher in a batter too long, because he gave up a homer that proved pivotal in the Mets' win.

Former New York Post writer Dave Hanson, a very nice man whose current whereabouts I do not know, and I were a bit late coming out of the Mets' clubhouse. We needed a Zimmer quote, but were told upon entering the Cubs' clubhouse that he'd already talked to the writers.

The clubhouse had nearly emptied, but we peeked around a corner and found Zim. He was just getting out of the shower.

"Hey, Skip, got a minute?" Hanson asked.

"Sure, fellas, what's up?" Zimmer said.

Rather than ask an innocuous question to get things started, Hanson dove right in.

"Hey, Skip, do you think you left (name of pitcher) in maybe too long?" Hanson asked.

Zimmer's face reddened immediately and he began screaming at the two of us, waving his towel in the process. Um ... yeah.

I do remember Zimmer's last words to us.

"Get the f*** outta here!"

Dave, if you're out there, thanks for the memories.

I think.

Memo to Boland: Stay alert. You never know what life-changing memory will be created when covering a baseball game.

(fyi, this is not the gross baseball story I referred to a few posts back, although seeing Zimmer naked certainly qualifies. I will post the other item shortly. Enjoy the baseball season.)