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National Moment of Silence

on December 21, 2012

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Moment of Silence for Sandy Hook Victims on Dec. 21

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Why The WWE Network Is Much Ado About Nothing

The WWE Network appeared to be Vince McMahon’s white whale. Turns out it was merely a trout. The culmination of nearly three years of self-promotion, rumors, dreams and promises about the WWE Network came Wednesday night at CES 2014. In the end, the WWE Network isn’t even a network at all. If you missed the particulars, the WWE Network costs you $9.99 per month and includes access to WWE’s vast video library – every WWF, WCW and ECW pay-per-view ever, for example – as well as every current WWE pay-per-view, including WrestleMania. Those two bits of news had hardcore wrestling fans practically dancing in the street for joy. They did the math. They know that ordering every WWE show in 2014 would have cost them close to $700. Now, that number is down to a mere $120. They’ve just saved $580! And they get every pay-per-view ever! If the goal of the WWE Network was to appease hardcore wrestling fans, then the announcement Wednesday was a success. Or was it? The networ...

Louisville Will Lose At Least 4 Games in 2013

It happens every year in college football. A team will win a major bowl game in impressive fashion and the hype builds. The star player, usually the quarterback, is an underclassman and the Heisman buzz begins. The team makes the cover of all the preseason magazines, picked to win its conference and run the table for an undefeated season. Every year, this one team falters. No, I’m not talking about Alabama. I’m talking about Louisville. It amuses me how so many of the college football media warn us to not put too much stock into bowl game results, to not get too carried away by hype and buzz – and then proceed to lose their minds every year over one team that obviously and clearly cannot back it up. Bowl games are important. Bowl games are fun. Bowl games can be program builders. Bowl games do not impact the following season. Louisville is the team of the moment thanks solely to its absolute destruction of Florida in the Sugar Bowl. It calls to mind the...

Is Danica Patrick A Superstar or Merely An Overhyped Media Creation?

I love the Indy 500. I know NASCAR has become the more popular auto sport in the United States by a country mile, but I still love the Indy 500. Even during the pathetic, soul-sucking late 1990’s when the newly formed Indy Racing League ruined everything, I still watched the Indy 500. Last week, I was glued to my television, watching a record number of lead changes and a thrilling finish involving a crash . Just as I had been glued to the television a year prior when J.R. Hildebrand blew it all on corner #800 of the race. Yet, the discussion from the media leading up to the event centered on one driver who was a few hundred miles south in NASCAR country. Yep, Danica Patrick dominated the headlines. One day, the stories were about the current Indy Car drivers basically saying “Good riddance” to the departed diva. The next day, the news cycle focused on Danica’s commitment to NASCAR . The morning of the race, the focus shifted on Dancia’s quote that she would love to do an In...

Does Anyone Care About The ESPN Smear Campaign Against the Big East?

"We always keep our television partners close to us. ... TV -- ESPN -- is the one who told us what to do." - Boston College athletic director Gene DeFilippo Those words rang in my head today as I watched College Football Live after work. During the program, Mark May gave his “expert” take on the State of the Big East. Spoiler alert: he didn’t think it was good . Last week on College Football Live, Andre Ware gave a similar, damning account of the Big East after it become official that Boise State had joined the conference. Ware said that the move would hurt Boise State’s ability to schedule big-time opponents. Yes, because the Alabama’s and Michigan’s of the world were lining up to play on the Blue Turf. Since the Big East turned down ESPN’s TV rights offer – a decision that was led in part by the University of Pittsburgh president – things have not gone well for the conference . The ACC took Syracuse and Pittsburgh. The Big 12 took West Virginia. The Big ...

How to Kill a Show in 60 Minutes: The New Girl Story

I watched every episode of New Girl’s first two seasons. I stopped watching the show after two episodes of season 3. It’s not like New Girl jumped the shark. It was eaten by the shark. It is almost impossible for any TV show, but especially a comedy, to remain good after it’s been on the air more than a few years. Invariably, what made it great gets repeated too much, or the characters evolve too far from their sweet spots, and the show fades away. I loved the Office. I stopped watching regularly when Jim and Pam got married and tuned out for good when Michael Scott left. How I Met Your Mother was a must-watch for me. Then after five years of the same jokes, the same teasing of the Mother, and the terrifying romance between Barney and Robin, I tuned out. Why they ruled out Robin as the mother in the first episode, I’ll never know. Why they continued to tease a Robin/Ted relationship for years afterwards, well I’m pretty sure the answer to that is pure desperation...

The Top 9 NFC Championship Games Since 1990

The genesis for this list – and why I ranked the AFC Championship Games – is how good this week’s games look on paper . But as I compiled the list, something pretty remarkable dawned on me. The NFC Championship Game is probably the most consistent sporting event in American for delivering a great game. Since 1990, there have only been five true blowouts in this game. And even the blowouts have been compelling. Think about how the Bears/Saints game from 2006 was actually a four-point game going into the last quarter. The Giants 41-0 thrashing of the Vikings in 2000 is as memorable as blowouts come. The blowouts for the Packers (1996) and Eagles (2004) were significant in that they returned to the Super Bowl for the first time in a long time. There is only one truly unremarkable NFC Championship Game since 1990 and that was Seattle destroying an overmatched Carolina team in 2005. That’s it. With the exception of The Masters, I can’t think of another annual sporting event th...

Substance Trumps Style: The Erin Andrews Story

It’s not easy being a woman in the sports media world. You are objectified constantly and consistently. And it’s not getting easier. During the NBA Finals, one of the more amusing subplots was Gregg Popovich’s obvious disdain for the in-game interview with the sideline reporter. That sideline reporter happened to be Doris Burke, a tremendous analyst and announcer. Here’s an excellent interview with The Sherman Report that goes over Burke’s own amusement – or lack thereof – with the whole sideshow. On Twitter, the reaction was less measured and articulate. When Doris Burke trended during the NBA Finals, it was due to 2 groups of people. There were those who wrote hateful, disgusting things about her looks – none of which I will link to here – and there were those who wrote about her attractiveness in aggressive terms – I ain’t linking to those either. It properly summed up the female experience in the sports media – you will inevitably be judged on your looks. ...

BYU will join the AAC within 2 years

The most absurd news to come of the absurd college football scheduling debate is that the Mountain West Conference was re-evaluating whether it wanted to still play BYU. I picture BYU administrators e-mailing that article with notes like “LOL” and “r u serious? Lmbo.” BYU, of course, has been smashing those Mountain West Conference teams for its entire existence. BYU had such little regard for them that they left the conference. Now the jilted ex-lover is going to say goodbye? Please. The most humorous part of the exchange was MWC commissioner Craig Thompson saying that they had to re-evaluate BYU due to “strength of schedule” reasons and, bam, right there, he was proven to be a fraud and an idiot. The SEC and ACC are not playing BYU because they are a cartel trying to keep the money to themselves. It has nothing to do with strength of schedule. I don’t need to repeat BYU’s recent record, link to their beat down of Texas or remind you of their Heisman and National Ti...

Does Anyone in the GOP Have a PR Person?

Perception is reality. With an increasingly fractured news media and a 10-second soundbite world, people based their opinions and insights on very little actual information. It is what they heard. It is what they have been led to believe. The Republicans have been very successful recently. Until Monday. A recent poll found that 45% were opposed to Obamacare. The same poll found that 37% were opposed to the Affordable Care Act . If that doesn’t sum up the “perception is reality” theme, then what would? People were asked about the exact same law with a different name, and 8% blindly hated it. Maybe it was due to their dislike of President Obama. Maybe it was due to the constant barbs leveled at Obamacare – not the Affordable Care Act – that swayed their mind. Regardless, the Republicans won the battle of public opinion over Obamacare. Or so it would seem. On Monday night, the Government shut down over the GOP’s insistence to delay Obamacare for a year. It end...

What Kind of Asshole Drives a Lotus?

The first time I tried to listen to the Strokes’ fifth album, Comedown Machine, I couldn’t get past the first song. That is not a compliment. This was not a “I just heard Seven Nation Army for the first time and must listen to it 37 more times immediately” situation. I didn’t know what I was listening to. This is the Strokes? This is my favorite band? The Strokes have dealt with a perception problem that we’d probably all like to enjoy. Their debut album was almost universally regarded as the best album of the first decade of the 21st century – lauded by music critics for breaking down the teen pop era of the late 90’s and spawning a legion of followers and imitators. Their follow up album, Room on Fire, picked up right where Is This It left off , but still threw people for a loop. Everyone just wanted the first album again. I always got the sense the Strokes, as a band, reviled the success that came from Is This It. Not necessarily the accolades the album received,...

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