This isn’t really football specific–but last week, Sports Center introduced Blog Buzz, a feature where they show the top articles being discussed in the blogosphere. I had seen an article on it last week, but paid it little attention, until I saw the article above this morning.
The main reason that I didn’t pay much attention to it was because of the initial reaction to Blog Buzz in the blogosphere–which was not overly positive. Not surprisingly, the first time the segment ran, they featured two blog comments–one from a blog on the Sun Sentinel, a Miami based newspaper, and the other was from one of ESPN’s own bloggers. Not exactly the type of blog coverage that earns the respect of indpendent blogs.
In my reading this morning, it appears that ESPN heard the feedback, and is making changes based on it–at least according to this blog, which appears to be related to the ESPN bit somehow (although, I wonder why ESPN would be tied in with a non-branded blogspot site). Which might make it slightly worthwhile.
But my reason for bringing it up on ZoneBlitz? I just thought the name was funny–Blog Buzz. It’s a fairly logical name–but ESPN also managed to name their segment in a way that ties it together with a rather infamous sports blog moment:
Somewhere kicking around my basement I have a videotape of the 1981-82 Super Bowl between San Francisco and Cincinnati. John Madden and Pat Summerall called that game from the Silverdome in Detroit.
Both were quite a bit younger then … 27 years younger, I guess, as I do the math. And I believe it was their first Super Bowl as the announcing tandem – the first one I had seen them do, anyway.
While broadcasting teams come and go, Madden and Summerall from their early days remain the best duo I can recall. Summerall had this quiet, understated approach to play-by-play that perfectly complemented Madden’s enthusiastic color, which was often accompanied by a “BOOM!!!” or a telestrator pen marking up the screen in 32 different directions.
Madden, a Super Bowl winning coach and Hall of Famer for both his commentary and his coaching, had slipped in recent years. He wasn’t as sharp and he sometimes seemed to be seeing different things than I was seeing on the television (not that he hasn’t forgotten more about the sport than I will ever know). But his legendary enthusiasm for the sport and for telling stories about the players and the coaches who partook in the NFL never disappeared.
Troy Aikman, Phil Simms, Cris Collinsworth – all of them have good points as analysts on NFL broadcasts and all will likely do credible work into the distant future. But even in the end Madden remained my favorite broadcaster.
The contract is a nice one for Harrison, a 31-year old OLB, and certainly not as ridiculous as handing a 320-pound (or more) defensive tackle with penchant for stomping on people’s faces with his cleats and possibly taking non-contract seasons off a record breaking $100+ million deal.
But, looking back at the Steelers history, one has to wonder if the extension for Harrison is sign of a new philosophy in Pittsburgh, in theory being driven by coach Mike Tomlin, who has a reputation as being more of a “Player’s Coach” than Bill Cowher or Chuck Noll ever were.
In the past, Pittsburgh has let several big name LBs leave in the middle of what would be considered my many their prime, or at the very worst just past their prime–seemingly always considering the system more important than the player.
No, the headline doesn’t refer to us, though there might be a couple people out there that don’t think Zoneblitz.com is pure gold.
I learned this morning via profootballtalk.com that the Dallas Morning News gave Cowboys backup tight end Martellus (or better yet, Don’t Tell Us) Bennett space on the Web site for a blog. And Bennett immediately provided evidence for why not everyone should have such an outlet for their innermost thoughts.
Bennett regaled readers with the tale of one of his friends going to a movie with a woman he met in a club a couple nights earlier, only to realize he didn’t find her as attractive as he remembered.
The team is unproven, at best, and more than likely more like putrid at wide receiver with Devin Hester, Rashied Davis, Earl Bennett and possibly Marty Booker competing for playing time. Cutler will make them a little better, but expecting too much from him in that regard, to borrow a bad cliche, is expecting him to put lipstick on a pig.
The Bears are also less than stellar at offensive tackle. John Tait retired. John St. Clair moved onto Cleveland as a free agent. Last year’s top pick Chris Williams will likely fill one spot. The Bears signed Frank Omiyale and Kevin Shaffer and are rumored to be interested in aging and oft-injured tackle Orlando Pace. But Williams is coming off a back injury and the other three potential options, well, nobody is going to be immortalizing them in bronze in Canton anytime soon.
Chicago certainly upgraded the quarterback position and Cutler is young enough where he is the equivalent of a first rounder – and possibly the equivalent of a first and third rounder. But wow – they gave up two firsts, a third and Kyle Orton. That’s a steep price to pay.
It was impossible to not admire Mike Singletary when watching him patrol the middle of Chicago’s defense while I was growing up.
The constant camera shots of his wide eyes eventually got a bit nauseating, but the passion with which he played the game was impressive.
But his statements and actions since he ascended to the head coaching position in San Francisco have been nothing short of bizarre.
At first it was a little bit refreshing. When he banished underachieving tight end Vernon Davis to the locker room during his first game as the head man it seemed as though football had found a coach that could keep today’s highly-paid players in line. His postgame speech might have raised an eyebrow or two – he hit the issue and lashed out at Davis a little more than one might have expected him to, but it seemed as though he was making a point.
Now he’s virtually written Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford off of his draft list because Stafford reportedly didn’t want to go into detailed discussions about the divorce of his parents?
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