Fair warning, this is a topic that probably NOBODY wants to hear about anymore.
According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, QB Matt Schaub of the Houston Texans is done for the season with a Lisfranc injury to his foot.
Everyone knows that this is most likely coach Gary Kubiak's last chance to make the Playoff or he's out, and this is yet another huge blow that adds to Houston's injury woes this season.
The Texans first dealt with hamstring problems with star RB Arian Foster, then Mario Williams went down for the season with a pectoral injury. A hamstring injury has also forced the Texans to be without star WR Andre Johnson for six weeks though he might return against Jacksonville following a bye week.
That said, this injury to Schaub might be the one that finally cripples the Texans and their chances to finally break into the Playoffs. The Texans defense this year has improved by leaps and bounds with new coordinator Wade Phillips as well as the additions of guys like CB Johnathan Joseph and DE J.J. Watt. Their offense has even been able to survive without Foster and Johnson due to players like Ben Tate and Kevin Walter stepping up into their roles. But it always hurts when your QB goes down, especially for an extended period of time.
With Schaub done for the season, the offense now gets turned over to backup QB Matt Leinart. Since being drafted 10th overall by the Arizona Cardinals in 2006, Leinart hasn't done much to impress. Seriously... this guy lost his job at one point to the 2010 version of Derek Anderson. That's brutal.
Houston coaches were saying that they were impressed with him in the pre-season. Houston does run the ball more than any other team in the league, so at least the offense won't be totally reliant upon the play of Leinart. Maybe he'll only have to make short, manageable throws while only taking minimal chances. Maybe he can succeed as an NFL QB afterall. But what if he doesn't?
Even with a great running attack and a great defense, Houston can't be too confident with Leinart stepping in, and the situation will only get worse if he struggles. So, here's where that whole "F Word" part comes into play - Favre. Yes, the man we've all grown very tired of hearing about, Brett Favre.
Sure, the ol' gunslinger is currently "retired," but this is a very favorable situation for him to step into with Houston. It wouldn't surprise me, or many others I'm sure if Favre were to step into a starting role mid-season. I actually think that's probably the ideal situation for him to comeback again. The Texans are a winning team, are definitely top tier on both sides of the ball this season, but now they might be in desperate need of a QB. A partial season in Houston with a high-powered offense and a chance to make a deep Playoff run. As much as I hate to admit it, it makes total sense if Houston and Favre are both up to the task.
Okay, so I have a few things running around in my head...First, let's get into this stupid fucker Brett Favre...The other day he decided to go on the radio and give Aaron Rogers a back-handed compliment...Saying that the last Packers team he was a part of, was "The Best team I had ever been on"...So he was "Surprised he (Rogers) didn't win a Super Bowl sooner." A couple things Favre neglected was, that a number of those guys were gone once Rogers took over...And then LeRoy Butler pointed out on ESPN NFL 32, that Favre had said his Vikings team was "The best team he had ever been on."
Oh silly Brett...You just miss having your name in the news...Butler made it clear that he thought Rogers is a better QB...Butler went on to trash Favre, pointing out how he never helped, reached out to, or worked with Rogers...He also said, "He (Favre) is right, Aaron got to sit and watch, and learn from Brett...Learn what not to do!" The only thing Butler left out, was calling Favre a fucking small-dicked, douchebag, fucking asshole...It's clear Brett was not a favorite in the locker room...
Please Favre, just go away and stay away...
-Now, To the hot button topic here in the Cleve...Peyton Hillis...So the Browns had been working on renegotiating his contract...I had no idea why it was taking so long...He's the best player on the team, fucking pay him...Well it turns out his agent ticked off the bosses...So they redid 3 other players deals...TE Evan Moore, who they don't use enough...Average LB Chris Gocong...And DL Ahtyba Rubin...I have no problem with these guys, but Hillis carried the offense last year, and honestly, with the lack of receiving weapons, Hillis should be carrying the offense again...But they haven't given him the touches...
Then Hillis had Strep Throat...He missed the Miami game because of it...Now, Strep can be bad...Especially if you're rocking the high fever that comes with it at times...But Then we found out Center, Alex Mack played Sunday while sick...How sick? He had his appendix removed Monday...Pretty fucking sick I guess!
So the rumors have swirled that Hillis was faking and was trying to take some kind of half-assed contract stance when he sat out with Strep...Hillis doesn't seem like that type of guy, but the rumors kept swirling...SO his idiot agent went on the radio, and said he told a very sick Hillis to not play...WTF!
All of this proves one thing...You shouldn't renegotiate contracts during the season...The shit becomes a distraction...Now everyone is wondering is Hillis not getting the touches he should, because of the contract talks...Everyone is wondering if Hillis was dogging it...Some think the Browns will trade Hillis...It's fucking nuts...
The Browns need to realize that if they lose Hillis or trade him, the majority of fans will go bat-shit, fucking crazy...They finally have a player they identify with...A player that gave them hope and patience for the future...The front office can't blow this...Hillis' agent needs to realize, he should shut his mouth, and he also shouldn't be trying to get Adrian Peterson money...His guy only had 1 big year...Hillis, needs to play Football, and make the most of his touches...Erase any doubt anyone had about him...
Okay kids!?!
-Next, TCU hasn't even played a game in the Big East, and they have already told the conference to eat a dick...They have excepted an offer they should have gotten a couple year ago...They are heading to the "Big 12"...Yes, the Big 12 wants to save themselves and finally gave TCU some love...If they weres smart, they'd reach out to Boise State next...
And the Big Least, well they are disappearing...They will have 6 teams left...If they don't act fast, they will lose their automatic BCS bowl bids...But who are they going to get? Rip teams from the MAC of Conference USA...So then they'll just be an even more watered down conference...Best move...Close up shop...USF, UConn, Rutgers, Louisville, Cincinnati, and West Virginia, find yourselves a new home, with one of the big guns...Lets get this 4 "Super Conference" thing done!
-The Chicago White Sox named Robin Ventura their new manager...Good luck, but you know what...Ventura could win 3 World Series as the White Sox manager, but I'll remember him best for getting his ass kicked by old man Nolan Ryan!
Becoming the poster child for the current version of the "All-American Boy" almost never happened for the big kid with the goofy smile and "Aw shucks" attitude. His mom was ill while pregnant with him and doctors urged her to abort a child that could be stillborn.
Ignoring medical advice, she carried out a pregnancy that gave the media someone to talk about at every turn on the hype highway. Tim Tebow has more reasons for them to like him besides cheating death before even being born.
Home-schooled by a family with Christian beliefs, Tebow soon incurred some controversy as a home-schooled student when he played football for a nearby high school. Though he started out playing linebacker and tight end, he soon became Florida's Player of the Year twice and his legend began to grow by playing a game on a broken leg.
ESPN began following him at this time and even did a show featuring Tebow and labeled him "The Chosen One". A top recruit, he decided to attend the University of Florida.
The media kept following him, this time in greater numbers. Not only did they have Tebow confess he was a virgin, they printed and recorded the question and answer that had nothing to do with football. The purpose of the question was to add to the mystique that was often found on an ESPN broadcast somewhere seemingly daily.
All of this publicity came despite the fact he was a backup, something that would come about again in five years. Tebow played as a freshman, and even played a key role in helping the Gators win the 2006 National Championship.
He started from his sophomore year on and became the first home-schooled athlete to win the Heisman Trophy Award. Tebow was also the first underclassman ever to win the award.
Though he was never able to tie Archie Griffin's record of winning the Heisman twice, he did lead Florida to another championship in 2008 and won the Maxwell Award twice. Many media members would be so bold to call Tebow the greatest college football player ever.
Yet critics would say that he would never have success as a quarterback in the NFL. Tebow ran the position kind of like a mix of a throw-back player and fullback in college, opting to run over defenders and toss jump passes more often than any other contemporary quarterback.
The Denver Broncos did not care to listen to the critics. They traded up in the 2009 Draft to use the 25th overall selection to grab Tebow. While many in the media had been wondering incessantly throughout the draft why Tebow hadn't been drafted yet, critics expected him to keep falling to possibly even the third round.
Now a Bronco, the cameras keep a few feet away constantly recording every Tebow move. The most popular reserve in the NFL, his jersey was a hot-selling item that set records. It had been the top-selling jersey every month since he was drafted for many months.
While spotted in six games in the beginning of his career, the Broncos lost their starting quarterback and were forced to start Tebow for three games. He became the first quarterback in NFL history to run for a touchdown in each of his first three career starts.
While his passing numbers were far from gaudy, they were certainly better than the critics expected. The 82.1 quarterback rating he had as a rookie was impressive for a kid no one thought would ever be an effective professional quarterback.
Now in his second season, the hype highway has intensified with more bodies and pressure in the way. His name is mentioned constantly on television and the Internet is strewn with tons of articles discussing if this is the year Tebow begins his career as a starter.
The problem is that last years starter, Kyle Ortin, has outperformed Tebow in camp by a pretty wide margin. Tebow's fans will say practice is unimportant, that the play on the field during a game matters most.
In the Broncos first 2011 preseason game, Orton was not sharp in his few plays. Tebow was sharp with one incompletion against backup defenders on the Dallas Cowboys. Still, Tebow's head coach John Fox called the youngster a work in progress who made a few bad reads.
With his unconventional release and style of play, Tebow is a unique player. Some think his style best works as a spot player. One reporter compared Tebow to 1984 Heisman winner Doug Flutie.
Flutie, about eight inches shorter than Tebow, lasted 11 rounds before being drafted. After a season in the United States Football League, Flutie joined the NFL as the USFL folded.
He soon found himself on the field playing, but the results were not as hoped. Flutie then bolted for the Canadian Football League and became a star. He played in the CFL for eight years and won three titles. He was also named the CFL's Most Outstanding Player six times.
Flutie then returned to the NFL in 1998 and became a Pro Bowler. He played to the age of 43 and became the first NFL player in 65 years to convert a successful drop kick.
While a trip to the CFL is an unlikely route for Tebow, it may take some time before the Broncos are ready to let him lead the team. But his teammates will tell you Tebow displays a an obvious burning desire to win.
With his religious beliefs, humble attitude, and desire to fulfill his childhood dream to becoming a great NFL quarterback, the media has bought in full force. There have been stories of him quoted as saying his Broncos starting job was “grabbed back away” when Orton was not traded recently.
But the negative press rolls off his back like water on a duck, leaving him unscathed. Well
insulated with a huge fanbase, the loyalty of the press will stay persistent no matter how much of Tebow's 2011 season is spent on the bench.
It appears Tebow can do no wrong to a group of writers, which reminds some of Brett Favre. Favre, who retired last year after 20 years as a player, still gets brought up in stories for a possible return this year.
While Favre won one Super Bowl and set several records as a player, he also left the game with the most fumbles, times sacked, and interceptions thrown in an era of football where the NFL constantly bent the rule in a quarterbacks favor to ensure success.
Tebow hasn't thrown a teammate under the bus yet for holding out while being the highest paid player in team history like Favre did. Nor are there any reports of purported sexual harassment either.
Yet there are similarities that extend beyond the fact both men play quarterback. Favre also lived under the media microscope and was trumpeted as the greatest player ever innumerous times.
Favre could do no wrong himself, even if reports of wrong doing were running rampant. He was given a pass at every turn and ESPN dropped his name seemingly every ten minutes on all broadcasts for many years.
With him now away from the game, the mantle has been filled by the kid who has had a media shadow since he was 17-years old. Tebow handles the things well, but has also lamented the constant process of being interviewed repeatedly and practically daily.
He will be only 24-years old soon, but the target is set firmly on his back. Opponents have stated they will try to hit Tebow with all of their abilities. That pressure alone would buckle most, let alone the constant attention he receives from a large group of reporters following him.
While appearing bashful at being given the throne Favre reigned for so many years, Tebow appears to understand the perks that go with it. Whether all of this hype gets him on the field with a successful career remains to be seen, but the media will make sure we witness every second of it.
I was sitting here wondering if after the NFL Lockout is finally over will we see this person in uniform, or did he finally retire for good? Hell for the right price, the Vikings or some other team that is willing to pay him might actually get him out on the field once again, I never actually heard him say he was done playing, did any of you?
As a Michigan football fan with a cousin who graduated from Michigan State, I am pretty sure that we will not miss seeing this during college football in the fall. Hey I know you will like seeing this......
It was nice to see one of the NCAA's prize football teams, finally get caught cheating. Who knows how long Tressel and the Buckeye football team had actually been cheating before they got caught? I hope other Universities put pressure on the NCAA officials to throw the book at them like they did other schools in the past. Why should they get away with cheating, when other schools don't?
I sure hope that he stays in retirement, but I thought I would share this with you. Because we all know that he ran a clean program at Florida, or at least he did not get caught. Let's be honest, all programs bend the rules in order to get the prize athletes to attend their schools, it is just a matter of them getting caught. So what makes him any different than Jimmy T., he never got caught......
The best thing about the NBA Lockout threatening to cancel their season next year, is that I will not have to see his face on ESPN, TNT, ABC or NBA TV. Listening to the announcers make up more excuses for why the Heat could not beat Dallas in the Finals this year diminishing what Dallas had accomplished by winning. We all know that the NBA wanted the Heat to win, but Dallas had other ideas, and rightfully deserved to be the champs......
Dear Jose if this is true, What the Hell were you thinking? I know that you are an angry person, who's playing career did not end the way you wanted, but come on Lady Gaga?
Something to look forward to this fall, and in keeping the NHL alive in my Sunday blog. The return of the Winnipeg Jets to the NHL. I wonder if Teemu will return home to the place where he started his Hall of Fame career? This team will be good for hockey in Canada, I always wondered the real reason they packed up and went to Arizona, did the NHL have some conspiracy theory going and made them a promise to one day return? Another team to stay up and watch on Saturday nights. Great Move in giving that city a franchise after they got screwed by previous owners.
Just remembering a legend, as I will do every week, may he rest in peace. I remember watching him hit some towering home runs against the Tigers. He is truly one of the greats of the game, passed by Sosa, McGuire and Bonds, just to name a few. To touch on the steroid issue briefly, it was not considered cheating in baseball until teenagers started dying from using them. I know I will strike a nerve when I say this, even if they used them how could it be cheating, they still had to hit the ball out of the park. So let it be said they all deserve to be in the Hall of Fame, after all, no matter how they accomplished their feats during their careers.
Thanks for reading my Post, and if you want to see more pictures like these, go to Jim Rome's Facebook Page and search through his photo gallery
The woman who “turned in” Brett Favre has had second thoughts. Not about Boy Brett but about the advisability of her actions. She now becomes one of a legion of people who thought a moment or two of fame-plus the sale of their tale-would be a good thing and have come to discover that their actions had unexpected consequences for which there is no payment, but they must now pay. Jenn Sterger now says, in one case over a montage of her dressed as your basic sports slut, that all she wants is her old life back, and to live without all the attention. Sorry, honey, you kissed that goodbye when you endorsed the cheque and took the money. There are no “overs” or “gimmes” in the trash tabloid business, you are, momentarily, the face on the front page-always linked to someone or something-and then you are not even an ad for Craig's List. Having flaunted your pneumatic charms for anyone who wanted to see, your “celebrity” has deflated although your “charms” have not. (The picture of you in a Jets T-shirt slit down the middle to your clavicle doesn't look sporting, it looks cheap.)
There's a saying, “I wasn't under the bed” which is generally interpreted to mean that the speaker only knows a part of what happened but not the actual, real, unvarnished truth. Only two people know that and, now, each has their own version. Were I to be told that the “lady” in question had pursued Favre, I would neither believe nor disbelieve it. Just like the woman who showed up as a “reporter” from a Mexican/Hispanic publication but was dressed like a strumpet straight from the Zocalo, she now finds that she's a disposable entity. It's possible that should her tawdry tales make his future less celebrated and more difficult, then so be it. But he always survives and she's lucky to be a minor footnote in the whole sleazy affair.
Those who seek celebrity need to understand that even if they're are talented, this talent comes with a certain price and that's the lack of privacy. Your ability to accept that may directly influence how your career goes. “Publicity” is the handmaiden to fame and the sooner one recognizes, even accepts that, the easier the future will be. If your whole life has been lived under the protection of your family first and then the University or College second, then the bounce to the Pros is going to be alternately thrilling or chilling or both. Depending on how high you climb, it's to be expected that people will crawl out of the toilet claiming an interesting variety of things. Relatives you've no heard of will give (paid for) interviews to the trash media that are 10% true and 90% imagination salted with stories they've heard from other family members, more discreet, and who actually knew you. If you're a male, time to meet the girl you never left behind but is now claiming you did. And, at that, left her knocked up and barefoot. Most of these claims can easily be handled by the police and an attorney. If, for example, she claims her deflowering took place in a motel on the road to Tampa on 6 November, but that conflicts with the moment that, on national television, you threw, kicked, caught, punted, dunked the ball then her case is without merit. Indeed the police will explain to her the niceties of being charged with fraud and your attorney will have a document for her to sign withdrawing her claim. Or else. (See above, Fraud.)
Ms. Sterger brings nothing new or different to the architecture of sexual politics and the (semi) single athlete. If we are to believe her tale, she was “encouraged” by the Jets' management to give in to his “interest” in her. She's even got a recording of him on the phone suggesting that they get together in some way. However, her claim is that she never met him (formally) and that, at best, all that happened was that they “may have” passed each other in the tunnel leading to the field. That's it. She's a good girl, would never do anything to attract attention. And that photo shoot in Maxim?, done to promote school spirit. Looking at her pictures one might believe it's quite a spirited school and, oh, by the way, she was paid for that spread.
Neither Favre nor the Jets (who also hired the sexiest masseuses for the team ever seen) back up or even dignify her assertions with anything save silence. If we are to believe her, she was a tasty pastry set up for Brett to savour. She doesn't know how he got her number or why he would even think she might be interested. Well, Chicky, possibly he saw the spread in Maxim or was given the high sign by others. We'll never know. As to you wanting back the simple life you now claim you miss, it might be you should have reconsidered the photo layout or, now, if you really want peace and quiet, take orders and join a Nunnery. But, for God's sake, quit being the torrid tale/tail du jour claiming calumnies that no one quite believes.
will we see this person in uniform, or did he finally retire for good? Hell for the right price, the Vikings or some other team that is willing to pay him might actually get him out on the field once again, I never actually heard him say he was done playing, did any of you?
