Just when you think the NFL has found every way to exploit its game, it goes and does this.
Next week, a game between the San Diego Chargers and the Oakland Raiders will be broadcast live in 3-D to theaters in Los Angeles, New York and Boston. It is a preliminary step on what is likely a long road to any regular 3-D broadcasts of football games.
The poor Chargers. First they can't wear their throwback jerseys as much as they'd like, then they travel to London for a game with the Saints and now they're featured in movie theaters against the Raiders. And all so that Roger Goodell and his organization can attempt to change the way fans view the game.
Which is, you know, akin to watching a game ... in person.
Man, that NFL is always on the cusp of the next big thing.
Crap that actually came from somebody's mouth
"I cannot get that 44 point win out of my mind." - Jesse Palmer, on Oklahoma's weekend victory
What Palmer failed to mention on-air is that he was wearing nothing but a loin cloth while a giant mirror hovered behind his television.
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"We said there'd be a scoring-fest and both teams would run up and down the field ... pass pass pass pass and neither has gained anything." - Tony Kornheiser
"We've watched two series." - Ron Jaworski
"Sportswriters have to make judgments early." - Kornheiser
Listening to Kornheiser on MNF every week is like receiving a swift kick to the gut. We won't even mention the 3,756 Kornheiser references to Aaron Rodgers playing "against" his opponents and Our Favre every week.
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“New York (Knicks) is going to be off the charts in a couple years, I’m here to tell you.” - Stephen A Smith
For those who didn't hear that screaming over the weekend, Stephen A. Smith is 100% certain LeBron James and another stud free agent will be playing for the Knicks next year as a result of New York's trades of Jamal Crawford and Zack Randolph. He could very well be right, but you'd think he'd hold off on the stone cold predictions until, oh, we don't know, maybe this summer ... when free agency begins.
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"The charge of bowl games is one the economic engine to bring two teams in that have a major economic impact on our city, that is the very first thing that we look at. The second thing is a matchup between two teams that local people will be excited about. The higher ranked teams, the better," – Rick Catlett President of the Gator Bowl
While Rick has pretty much made a mockery out of his bowl by suggesting in previous interviews that they might select Nebraska as their Big 12 representative over a Mizzou team that throttled them 52-17 in Lincoln and were superior in every way this season, we at least give him credit for having the balls to come out and say that the #1 priority for his bowl is money. Nobody else affiliated with the BCS will say as much.
Debunking the BCS, One Argument at a Time
Rather than lay out our passionate argument for the BCS to succumb to a more traditional playoff format, we instead have decided that the best way to speak our peace is simply to retort to some of the more ridiculous arguments in favor of the current system. Today’s argument is the most common for those who are trying to justify the BCS as it stands today – that they don’t want to jeopardize the “best regular season in sports”.
Offering up the most public example of this defense was John Swofford, current BCS coordinator, in response to president-elect Barack Obama’s statements about his desire to see a playoff during an interview with 60 Minutes. Sayeth Swofford…
"For now, our constituencies — and I know (Obama) understands constituencies — have settled on the current BCS system, which the majority believe is the best system yet to determine a national champion while also maintaining the college football regular season as the best and most meaningful in sports."
But before you write it off as simply another paper defense of a man desperately trying to protect his money and power, the same argument is also being supported by many not affiliated with the BCS. Take KC Star columnist and friend of JSF, Jason Whitlock’s recent comments in the Star as an example…
“Let me quickly repeat the argument I introduced in the mid-1990s: Division I-A college football has the greatest regular season in all team sports, and a playoff system would ruin that distinction.”
Consider us lost. With all the times we’ve seen the argument being proposed, we haven’t been able to figure out how creating a 4-team or 8-team playoff would dull the intensity of the regular season. The task at hand during the regular season would be to obtain a spot amongst the top 8 teams in Division I. As we rhetorically inquired in a column from a few weeks ago, is there one team in the country who knew going into the 2008 season that, even if they put it on cruise control for 12 weeks, they would be guaranteed a spot in the playoff?
Look at Texas Tech for example; they roared through the first ten games undefeated, working their way up to a #2 slot that, if there was an 8-team playoff, would seem secure. Then they got throttled by Oklahoma and now they’re sitting 7th in the BCS, hanging on for dear life. Think their regular season game against Baylor this week would be boring?
Alabama is #1 in the nation and if they go out and lose to unranked Auburn on Saturday, they would likely be on the outside looking in if there were a 4 team playoff based on BCS rankings. We imagine most people would be paying attention at least as closely in Alabama on Saturday if that were the case.
With a playoff system, the regular season would see each team scratching and clawing to get into the top 4 or 8 teams and ultimately get rewarded with an opportunity to play it out on the field. The regular season remains intense and the playoffs would likely compete with the NFL for the title of the biggest sporting event in the country.
We suppose that makes a little too much sense.
Chris Berman Would Like to Wish You a Happy Thanksgiving. No, Really.
Last month, we touched on the fact that Boomer is absolutely obsessed with holidays. For the average person, going out of your way to wish people a happy ___ is a sign of good will. For Berman, it's his way of being the master of ceremonies. We just really have a hard time believing the self-important ego maniac who did this is really as genuine as he would like us to believe.
At any rate, Monday Night Countdown gave Boomer the opportunity to wish pretty much everyone with a pulse a Happy Thanksgiving. You might think we're overstating it, but Berman was the only one overstating anything.
If he wasn't wishing someone a good turkey day, he was simply talking about it.
"Let us be, if not the first among the first, from all of us to all of you at home, Happy Thanksgiving."
"Happy Thanksgiving to you (Mike Ditka)."
"Tom Jackson is with us, another Thanksgiving together."
"Our friend Steve Young; Steve, good evening and Happy Thanksgiving."
"Suzy Kolber with a Teams at 20 Report with the Saints. Happy Turkey Day, Suz!"
"Alright Michelle (Tafoya). Enjoy New Orleans and Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family."
"Stay away from that tryptophan at Thanksgiving." (talking to Chris Mortensen)
"We bring in our quarterback on the set, Trent Dilfer. Happy Thanksgiving to you."
"Alright Trent (Dilfer), thank you we'll see you a little bit later. Happy Thanksgiving to you."
The keen Media Circus eye notices that Boomer wished Dilfer a happy Thanksgiving twice in the same segment, at the open and close of the segment. We guess Boomer is just "saying it".
"It's been Happy pre-Thanksgiving for Tony Romo because he's back and now Dallas (is) rolling."
"Let's move over to New England where, you know, Thanksgiving and everything started."
"What was it, (the Jaguars) were getting ready for Thanksgiving?"
"Well Happy Thanksgiving everybody out there. We'll see you for Primtime at halftime."
And of course, to kick things off during the halftime telecast ...
"Alright thanks Michael and from all of us here in the studio, Happy Thanksgiving."
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
Bob Carpenter Memorial Snappy Line
Though he won't publicly complain and doesn't want anyone to worry about him, Bob Carpenter was nearly sick after last week. In these stressful times, the last thing a man of his stature needs is snappiness gone wrong. It could very well push a man over the edge.
When all seemed grim, the Bobber found solace in the most unlikely of sources, former All Pro and current NFL Network analyst Deion Sanders. As part of Sanders' weekly top ten "Prime Time" video on NFL.com, Bobby enjoyed a handful of snappy lines to describe some of the top plays of the week. They included,
Holding Down the Forte - Matt Forte's career day against the Rams
Forget the Titans - the Jets destruction of Tennessee
King of the Cassel - Matt Cassel's second consecutive 400 yard passing day
Four Score - Michael Turner's four TD performance against Carolina
While that was more than enough to nourish the appetite, the Carpster especially enjoyed the bumpy background music about Prime Time by a fellow named "Snoop Dog". If there's one thing Bob Carpenter loves, it's a happy, healthy puppy for all in the family to enjoy ... especially a friendly fellow like Snoopy.
The Media Circus is written by Josh Bacott and Patrick Imig. They swear this stuff is real. Email them at info@joesportsfan.com.