Not since Bernie Madoff went to jail has someone been paid so much money to dash so many dreams. Numerous sources report that the Oakland Raiders are on the verge of releasing JaMarcus Russell after three undistinguished seasons playing quarterback for the franchise. The former number one overall pick in the 2007 NFL draft battled weight problems as well as a general lack of competence at the position. When the Raiders traded for former Redskins quarterback, Jason Campbell, on draft day, it was clear that Russell’s days were numbered.
I am interested to see which NFL team will take a flier on Russell, still just 24 years old, because his right arm is legendary. In fact, in his pre-draft workouts in 2007, Russell famously was able to throw the ball 85 yards standing, 70 yards from his knees, and 40 yards from the seat of his pants. His problems lie between the ears however (not to mention his gut), as the $39 million he will have been paid by the Raiders was not enough to motivate him to become even a serviceable NFL quarterback.
Now that even the Raiders, widely considered to be the NFL stop of last resort, have cast Russell aside, I think it’s safe to say that Ryan Leaf now has some company atop all of those “Biggest Bust in NFL History” lists. As if you needed any more evidence of that fact, try typing JaMarcus Russell into Google and you see that one of the top suggestions is shockingly enough: “JaMarcus Russell Bust.”
No one ever said being a Bengals fan was easy (unless, of course, you’re a Raiders fan). In 2005, when Marvin Lewis lead the team to the playoffs for the first time in 15 years, they went on to lose not only their first-round game to the Steelers, but quarterback Carson Palmer, who tore three knee ligaments on the team’s first series. Things didn’t get any easier over the next year either, as nine different Bengals players were arrested a grand total of 13 times for everything from providing alcohol to underage females to burglary and grand theft. This year, after the upstart Jets handed the team yet another first-round playoff loss, the Bengals are back to their old tricks.
While legal troubles are certainly nothing new for NFL players, the Bengals set the bar high when it comes to ensuring that PR Director, Jack Brennan, and his staff have to work weekends. (And it’s not just because Ochocinco knows how to tweet). Last week, the team signed former Jacksonville Jaguar receiver Matt Jones, well-rested after a year off from football for cocaine possession, and worked out Pacman Jones, a man whose rap-sheet could paper your walls. So as the Bengals transition from Hard Knocks last season to another apparent remake of The Longest Yard, I got to wondering: who are the 10 figures from professional football’s long history that would fit best with the Bengals’ team concept?
Like much of America, I have been consistently amazed by the unique ways in which the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) has failed to identify the best team in the country almost every year since its inception during the 1998 season. In 2008, an undefeated Utah team had a legitimate gripe that they were the best team in college football after the Utes trounced an Alabama squad, ranked #1 in the country just weeks prior, 31-17 in the Sugar Bowl. Unfortunately, Americans were deprived of an opportunity to watch Utah take on a one-loss Florida team that beat a previously one-loss Oklahoma team in the “BCS National Championship Game.”
Similarly, following the 2006 season, an undefeated Boise State team beat all-world running back Adrian Peterson and the Oklahoma Sooners in the Fiesta Bowl 43-42 in what many consider to be the greatest college football game of all time but were denied a shot to play for the national title. Looking at these examples, one could easily make the mistake of thinking that the BCS system merely discriminates against schools from small conferences, which do not play a schedule tough enough to merit consideration anyway. However, following the 2004 season, an undefeated Auburn team, playing in arguably the toughest conference in the land, the Southeastern Conference, was also denied a chance to play for the national title, once again leaving America wondering who the best team in College Football was for that season. Read the rest of this entry »
Teammates congratulate first baseman Chris Davis after his walkoff home run May 14th against Seattle
The Rangers, who currently sit 3.5 games atop the American League West, have the 3rd best record in baseball, have won 12 of their last 14 games, and not even a John Lackey fastball to Ian Kinsler’s ribs in the team’s first at bat on Saturday could slow their momentum. A number of factors have contributed to this team’s resurgence. First and foremost, John Daniels is a heck of a General Manager. Over the last 2 years, a number of savvy trades as well as a renewed emphasis on development throughout the organization demonstrate how much he has learned from past mistakes. Moreover, I believe that the plan he is currently implementing, puts him among the best GM’s in baseball. In addition to improvements in management, this team now has a winning culture at every level of the organization evidenced by four affiliates winning division championships last year. Add to that, a hands on approach by a hall of fame pitcher who just so happens to be the team’s president, and you get a 22-14 record through 36 games, and a team that is just beginning to scratch the surface.
Dear Faithful Readers of There’s Always Next Year,
I regret to inform you that I will be taking a leave of absence from the blog in order to pursue a life long dream of playing quarterback for the Carolina Panthers. After reading this story yesterday about how well the franchise takes care of its under-performing, marginally skilled quarterbacks, I figure that I cannot possibly do worse in the NFL than throwing 5 interceptions and losing a fumble in my team’s blowout playoff loss to the Cardinals. I have a strong suspicion that my mediocre skill set will be right at home in their backfield and I hope you all will wish me luck. Thanks for reading.
Marion
P.S. Please post any thoughts on how I should spend my $20 million signing bonus in the comments. You might just be able to cut yourself in on my new found stardom.
While the nation’s sports fans have passed their time this spring by watching North Carolina collect another NCAA tournament title, suffering through a seemingly endless Spring Training thanks to the recently created World Baseball Classic that has clearly captured the imagination of a nation, and starting to actually pay attention to NBA and NHL standings, the NFL may have provided the most drama of all without playing one game. We’ve seen one of the best of all time retire, Pro-Bowlers cut one after another or traded, and the Redskins hand out a record contract to another team’s aging star (on second thought, this might not be so groundbreaking). All this and we haven’t even mentioned Michael Vick! So, in order to be fair to past off-seasons and their notoriously fragile egos, I will run down my top five shocking off-season moves in history.
Now that we have reached the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament, I’m sure you, like the rest of the sports world, are on the edge of your seat wondering: “Where is Marion’s love for March Madness?” But now that Cleveland State has thoroughly decimated not just my bracket but my general outlook on life by trouncing a lackadaisical Wake Forest team, I’d like to put your minds at ease and give my predictions for the rounds that count. Because if revising your predictions with every round is good enough for ESPN, it’s definitely good enough for me.
The Denver Broncos really screwed this one up. Inexplicably, the team, lead by new head coach Josh McDaniels, decided that the best thing for their future was to displace Pro Bowl starting quarterback, Jay Cutler with Matt Cassel, who McDaniels coached last season as the New England Patriots’ offensive coordinator. Unfortunately, McDaniels’ overtures to his former team about acquiring Cassel were never consummated, and Cassel was shipped instead to the Kansas City Chiefs, now run by former Patriots executive, Scott Pioli.
McDaniels’s sin however, was not in pursuing a familiar quarterback to bring with him to an unfamiliar situation. Rather, the problem was his inability to keep that pursuit out of the public conversation and away from his current starting quarterback until the deal was final. Because they did not control this story from the beginning, the Broncos are now faced with the unenviable choice of either trading away their team leader and effectively giving up on this season or holding onto him and hoping that he decides to play to the level that he is capable of.
Tiger Woods’s second venture onto the PGA tour since recovering from knee surgery wasn’t the only newsworthy event to take place at the World Golf Championship-CA Championship at Doral on Thursday. Swedish golfer, Henrik Stenson provided his own bit of entertainment for the crowd when he removed all of his clothes sans underwear and golf glove in order to play a shot out of the mud on the third hole. Said Stenson of his decision, “I felt that I would definitely save a shot by actually playing the ball. If you are saving a shot, that has to be worth taking your shirt and trousers off.”
I agree, but for the sake of golf’s more bashful fans, let’s hope that Henrik can keep it in the short grass more often than not, the rest of this season.
Now that the dust has settled from the media’s love affair with all things Terrell Owens, I offer my thoughts.
The Cowboys made the right move. By all accounts, Tony Romo and T.O. could not coexist. Whether it was Owens accusing Romo of diagramming plays behind his back or the perception that Romo finally got tired of publicly stroking T.O.’s ego, the love affair that allowed T.O. to catch 38 touchdowns in 3 years with America’s Team (the most by any player in that time span) had reached its breaking point. And after taking into consideration their relative ages (T.O. is 7 years older), salary commitments (Romo–6 years $67.4 million; T.O.– 4 years $34 million), and how hard it is to find a franchise quarterback, the choice was obvious.
More than the quarterback however, this move will allow the Cowboys to utilize weapons who might not have been getting enough touches last year: the newly acquired Roy Williams and a trio of talented running backs. Roy Williams will have the opportunity to show why the Cowboys shipped a package equal to a small nation’s Gross Domestic Product in football terms (a first round pick and a third round pick in April’s draft) to the Lions and proceeded to sign him to a 5 year, $45 million extension last November. After a full off-season to prepare and get in sync with Romo, he will be all out of excuses if he doesn’t produce.
As for that talented backfield, I think this move signals a shift to a more run based attack. First of all, this will ensure that the Cowboys are getting the most out of a backfield that includes a Pro Bowler in Marion Barber and two rookies from last season who each flashed brilliance at times, Felix Jones and Tashard Choice. By giving more touches to the running backs, Tony Romo should be able to cut down on costly errors at inopportune moments, a recurring theme that eventually led to the Cowboys downfall.
Finally, Wade Phillips and his staff will never be mistaken for military drill sergeants. Phillips is known around the league as a “players coach” which many take to mean that he is too easy on his team. He gives his veterans plenty of days off, rarely practices in pads, and generally runs the team without much discipline. T.O. of course took full advantage of Wade’s lax atmosphere and filled the leadership vacuum that was created. And because Owens is so charismatic, he had plenty of followers. However, when you let Hannibal Lecter run the asylum, it is not a positive thing. The coaching staff cannot do its job when their credibility is constantly undermined. And while you could argue that the coaching staff is the real problem and Jerry Jones should’ve shipped them out instead, once it was apparent that he wasn’t going to do that this year, T.O. had to go.
Posted by Marion Brooks 
