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NFL General

Don’t worry; you’re not the only person whose fantasy lineup is getting decimated


As if the pathetic performances by most of the NFL’s elite running backs haven’t been disappointing enough for fantasy owners, here we are going into week four and some of the first round, money players are already getting bitten by the injury bug.

The enigmatic artists formerly known as the St. Louis Rams got some distressing news on Monday, but it’s not nearly as painful for them as it is for their star back. Steven Jackson will miss at least one week with a partial tear in his groin that he obtained in Sunday’s loss to the Buccaneers. According to Scott Linehan, Jackson’s status is week to week which is about as bad as it gets for fantasy GMs. We have no experience with torn groins, but we’re guessing that running full speed and cutting on a dime are probably pretty painful. Make room for Jackson at the end of your bench and grab rookie Brian Leonard if you can. This could be the beginning of a long guessing game for Jackson owners.

Then there is Seattle’s best, Shaun Alexander. The Seahawks running back ran for 100 yards on Sunday and then on Monday, Mike Holmgren said that he had a broken left wrist. Good news is that it’s a `play with the pain’ kinda injury and team doctors will just slap a cast on him and send him out on the field. This is defiantly a must monitor situation because we all remember how a fractured foot cost him six games last year.

Throw in other significant happenings in the league like Deuce McAllister‘s injury that will probably keep him out for the remainder of the season, Jake Delhomme‘s strained right elbow, Vernon Davis‘ sprained knee ligament, the Matt Leinart/Kurt Warner merry-go-round, Brian Westbrook‘s abdominal stain, Hines Ward‘s bruised knee, Calvin Johnson‘s bad back, Marc Bulger’s broken ribs
(whew!) and unless you had Kevin Curtis or Ronnie Brown blowing up for your team, you’re probably still bummed out over the fantasy hits you took this week.

Categories
NFL General

Madden 08 hits the shelves, but not for long


Best Buys and other electronic stores got bum rushed last night around midnight by tons of pale, pimply skinned button pushers who just couldn’t wait one more second to get their grubby little paws on the latest edition of the Madden video game. In fact, don’t be surprised when you walk into the office today and about half the male contingency is out with a mysterious “head cold” because when Madden drops, the addicts just gotta get their fix.

Ah. I will pick up my game at midnight, play until about 7 a.m., sleep for about three hours, and then hit the sticks for about 24 hours straight. And yes, I told my boss that I was taking the entire day off to play a video game,” Madden super fan Brad DeVito said.

We don’t know exactly how “Madden Day” compares with the NCAA tournament for workers lack of productivity, but we’re guessing that it has to be pretty high on list considering that in 2006 “Madden 2007” sold a whopping 1.8 million copies. And that’s just on the PlayStation 2! We’re not even counting all the copies sold for the Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, P.C., the Nintendo Wii, the Nintendo GameCube, and the variety of handheld consoles.

And while most people are absolutely stoked to start dropping back for virtual hail marys or laying the electronic wood to their opponents, other people are already making excuses for when the big Madden tournament eventually rolls around.

Last year I had a fumbling problem where if you breathed on my character he dropped the ball,” Matt Leinart said. “This year, my strength rating is awful. I’m going to get my butt kicked in the game.

Links:

[MSN.FoxSports.com]: Madden…know it, live it, love it

Categories
General Sports

Odds and Ends: Should bloggers get Press Credentials?


Eric Mcerlain over at Off Wing Opinion posted a link to Sports Media Journal’s poll asking whether sports bloggers should get media credentials. There are only 51 votes as of this writing but almost 2/3 of the respondents say no. And I have to agree with them. A few bloggers, like Eric, absolutely know their stuff. We’ve had Eric on a few podcasts and his knowledge of hockey and the NHL is extraordinary. Giving him a press pass enhances his writing.

However, the majority of bloggers are goddamn useless and add absolutely nothing to sports “reporting.” Hell, why do you need a press pass to post a blog entry on which player in the starting lineup compares to the cast of the Partridge Family? Bill Simmons doesn’t need a press pass and the majority of bloggers are cheap imitations of the Sports Guy. (Even the Sports Guy has become a cheap imitation of the Sports Guy.) You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve clicked on a link, read the blog entry, and thought, “are you f’ing kidding me? Did I just waste time reading that shit?”

No, bloggers do not need press credentials. The good ones come up with important topics and opinions with or without access. The bad ones will always suck the life out of this game, whether or not they have access to the free buffet. And for the record, we don’t have press credentials.

In other news…

[Cincinnati.com]: Bengals release LB Nicholson after arrest on a domestic violence charge

[Idaho Statesman]: Another story for the ‘Hockey players are the toughest athletes’ file

[Canada.com]: The worst logos in hockey

[TrojanWire]: Well, at least we know Steve Nash doesn’t get his chest waxed

[Ump Bump]: For Ozzie Guillen, profanity is but a station in his train of thought

[SportsBurn]: Tony Romo to judge Miss Universe pageant. Bastard.

Categories
Dallas Cowboys

Matt Leinart needs to save us


Where are you Matt? You become a father and all of the sudden you’re too good to make headlines banging a starlet or two? (And in the Paris Hilton case, starlet is a real stretch.) We’ve been reduced to rumors about Tony Romo going on a date with Jessica Simpson — which is based solely on his MNF getting to know Tony Romo segment where he lists Jessica Simpson as his celebrity crush.

It’s pretty interesting how these rumors get started. Bob Sturm from Dallas’ The Ticket 1310AM republishes an email from a reader and all of the sudden, he is linked to a “source” that says Romo and Simpson went on a date. Kind of like how the rumor got started that Chris Pronger got a television reporter pregant and had to move out of Edmonton. Is that how easy it is to start a rumor? He’s a rumor for you: Jessica Simpson looks like a man. Or is that kind of just an opinion? We never understood the fascination with JS. Yeah, she’s got huge cans but if you wanted to look at a man face with huge cans, there’s always Bill Parcells, who’d be a lot more fun to talk to. Here’s a pic of Simpson with her new colagen lips.

Speaking of Matt Leinart, ever since his breakout game vs the Bears on MNF, he’s thrown 5 INTs and only 1 TD.

Links:
[The Big Lead]: Checking in on Tony Romo and Jessica Simpson

Categories
Arizona Cardinals

Now is SI calling Nick Lachey or Matt Leinart a douche?



Who is the douche?

It’s not often that a national website will come out and call someone a douche so it’s rather surprising that SI.com included this photo of Matt Leinart and Nick Lachey with the filename “douche.jpg”. Was this photo labeled before or after the news that he might have nailed Paris Hilton? Cause then the filename antiobiotics.jpg is more in order.

(Thanks to the folks at Fark who have way too much time on their hands.)

Categories
General Sports

Odds and Ends for Wed Apr 26 2006: Soccer is very gay

Is it just us or are a disproportionate amount of soccer stories tinged with homoeroticism? NTTAWWT… In Brazil, a coach was suspended for 60 days for saying that a referee was flirting with him.


He was flirting with me. He blew his whistle and looked at me with every decision he made….Maybe it was because of my pink shirt.”

Probably not the best idea to imply that a ref is gay. Blind is ok. Gay is not.

In other news…

[Denver Post]: Kenyon Martin suspended for sitting out the 2nd half of Monday’s game without injury.

[TrojanWire]: Matt Leinart is already setting himself up to be the 2009 Madden cover jinx.

[The Hater Nation]: Why Kobe chose new jersey number

[CBS Sportsline]: Shocking! Man behind Reggie Bush house scandal has shady past.

[SI]: Well, there goes SI.com’s credibility — Jenn Sterger (you know the FSU ho-or… er… cowgirl) has a column.

[Columbus Dispatch]: This is what happens when you don’t supply strippers to lacrosse teams — they start sticking fingers up players’ rectums. Damn near killed him.

Real Odd of the Day: 9-5 that Lynn Swann is elected governor of Pennsylvania