COMMENTS FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY
Written by: Mike in DA
Date posted: 12/5/2010
A THOUSAND BUCKS FOR DETAILING: THIS CAR MUST REALLY HATE LEBRON!
THIS LEBRON HATER CAN'T SPELL "TRAITOR" CORRECTLY!
The Crier’s BCS Elimination Tournament ended yesterday (12/4) with five teams from the original 28 teams still around after the final week (Week #9).
As forecasted here last week, if Oregon and Auburn both won yesterday, they would probably end up in the #1 and #2 spots, respectively, which they did.
Auburn’s 56-17 win over South Carolina moved them ahead of Stanford into second place, but it was very close in the race for second. Oregon with their 37-20 win over Oregon State kept the Ducks at the top of the final standings. The other three remaining teams (Stanford, TCU, and Wisconsin) completed their respective regular seasons last week.
The final point ratings (records in parentheses) of the remaining five teams were:
Oregon (12-0) - 96.1
Auburn (13-0) - 94.2
Stanford (11-1) - 93.9
TCU (12-0) – 91.1
Wisconsin (11-1) – 85.9
In accordance with the Crier’s tourney rules, Oregon and Auburn would meet in the Crier’s version of the BCS Championship Game. It is more than likely that these two teams will meet in the actual BCS Championship Game, which will be announced tonight along with the other BCS match-ups.
Once again, the purpose of the Crier’s rankings was to determine the top two teams standing at the end of play yesterday (12/4). Hopefully, the BCS people will have the same two teams as "The Crier" for their championship game when all is said and done.
In the Crier’s BCS Game of the Week, Auburn (-4.5) won and covered vs. South Carolina, ending the Crier’s record in tournament games at 9-6 SU and 9-6 ATS (60%). The Crier's goal is to win in the range of 57-62% ATS and once again he showed why his organization is one of the best at that.
BIRTHDAYS SHMIRTHDAYS
Rich Lord and Robert "Skillet Head" Henslee continue their stupid daily birthday segment on SportsRadio610 while they keep callers on hold. This is an embarrassment to them and their station. Listeners aren’t interested in birthdays of people most of whom they’re not familiar with.
In a recent survey, I heard the names of 61 people who were honored two weeks ago by Rich and Robert and I was only familiar with 21 of them. And I consider myself a fairly knowledgeable person, but I didn’t know that woman from the soap opera or that 40-something TV actress who usually plays a cougar or that drummer from a band or that D-List actress hottie, etc., etc.
I get a feeling that these two guys aren’t familiar with many of the honorees either, as they usually botch up pronunciations of the lesser-known hard-to-pronounce names, yet they act like they know all about these people. They’re just reading some stuff they or their producer (aka “paid intern”) probably googled from a birthday website. At least in the names I heard, they didn’t mention any dead people that John Lopez was guilty of doing before the SR610 Morning Show got smart and dumped their ridiculous birthday segment.
If SR610 wants to honor birthdays so badly, honor athletes that most of the listeners are familiar with. Mention a few things about them with a sound bite or two and maybe some trivia about the honoree.
WHO DO ATHEISTS THANK WHEN THEY WIN A GAME?
One of the topics this past week, both in the Peanut Gallery and on local sports talk was the tweet made by Buffalo Bill WR Stevie Johnson.
Just in case you’re not familiar with it, last week it finally happened that a football player instead of pointing heavenward after scoring, pointed to God after dropping a potential TD pass. Johnson dropped a pass that what would have beaten the Steelers, then blamed God on a Twitter post - “I PRAISE YOU 24/7!!!!, “AND THIS IS HOW YOU DO ME!!!!”
Hey, Steve, for what it’s worth, God has been messing with the Bills for years. Just ask Jim Kelly and his Bills’ teammates of the early 1990's.
In this video, Chris McCutchin knows how to give credit where credit is due after making a game-winning TD catch. (http://sports.todaysbigthing.com/sports/2010/12/03)
TEXANS AND OTHERS MAY BE DONE, BUT THERE'S STILL SOME GOOD NFL GAMES LEFT! (SC)
Most sports talkers portray the NFL schedule in December/January as the crème de la crème. This is when the best teams show themselves and show why they are the best teams. I am sure the NFL honchos like to hear that because it focuses interest on their games and at the same time it diverts attention from the fact that there will be an equal number of teams showing up for games with no incentive to play hard or play well. Consider these potential NFL Network Classics:
December 12 - Cleveland at Buffalo and Denver at Arizona
December 19 – Arizona at Carolina and Cleveland at Cincinnati
Devember 25 (Christmas Night) – Dallas at Arizona
January 2 – Minnesota at Detroit
Those six games only represent ones where neither team is a playoff contender and that list does not include any future games where a currently involved team like the Houston Texans plays its way into obliteration in the next couple of weeks, as will surely be the case.
The NFL has to worry about those games this year – particularly as news of a possible work stoppage for 2011 continues to circulate. Live attendance for NFL games has been spotty this year and not just in cities where the team stinks and not just in cities that traditionally have small crowds. Consider the following:
The Tampa Bay Bucs are 8-3. That is a huge turnaround from last year’s 3-13 season. Nonetheless, the Bucs drew less than 45,000 fans to a home game last month.
The St. Louis Rams are tied for their division lead; they hosted the Atlanta Falcons who were tied at the time for the best record in the NFC. That game drew only 53,000 leaving about 20% of the stadium empty.
Teams doing poorly not surprisingly have less than capacity crowds but the “shortfall” from capacity is not trivial.
Not counting Thanksgiving, the Detroit Lions can play to 57,000 fans and leave tons of seats empty.
The Buffalo Bills have drawn less than 57,000 this year to home games.
Now, the weather will get worse in cities like Cincy and Buffalo, other teams will begin to fall out of contention, and that will mean even more empty seats. Empty seats mean diminished revenues; not just from ticket sales, but from the money spent on parking and concessions by fans who fill the seats.
Ten years ago, even in bad sports venues like Jacksonville, Atlanta, and Miami, the NFL teams played to near capacity crowds unless and until the team was hopelessly out of it for the year. Such is no longer the case. Blame it on the economy; blame it on fan disgust with squabbles between millionaires and billionaires; blame it on Rio; or whatever you want to blame it on.
Finding the cause will not happen until all concerned begin to realize that the NFL has peaked and is starting to go downhill attendance-wise. The team owners, the league, and the players need to look at what is happening to attendance and to acknowledge that they all need to do more than assume that once they all agree on a season schedule the fans will be knocking down the gates no matter what. The NFL has to take off its rose-colored glasses because the times have changed.
With all that said, there will still be some good and intense football on display for the rest of the season. The above six listed games from the upcoming NFL schedule are meaningless. However, using symmetry, below is a list of six upcoming games that are must-see games and hopefully, they will be nationally televised, so a larger audience could enjoy them. Some of these games may be played in bad weather conditions, but the NFL's sheepish spectators have been conditioned to that by now:
December 12 - New England at Chicago - Both teams will be in tight division races. The game will match a good offense (Pats) against a good defense (Bears). The Chicago weather could be frightful, but the football could be delightful.
December 19 offers three really good games on the same day:
NY Jets at Pittsburgh - These two teams will also both be in tight division races. The winner here might get home advantage throughout the playoffs or this could be a game that might cost one of the teams a shot at a wild card slot. The weather will almost certainly be “late season football weather”.
Philadelphia at NY Giants - Unless one of these teams self-destructs, this game should give us the NFC East champion and put one of these teams in the playoffs for sure. Another cold weather game, as there won’t be too many fans in short sleeves.
Green Bay at New England - These teams also will be in tight division races. The Pats will have had an effect on the NFC North race with the game against the Bears in the previous week. Hot chocolate sales will be up at this game.
December 27 - New Orleans at Atlanta - The winner here may need the game to keep pace with Tampa Bay and the loser might be in trouble with regard to the wild card. The game is in the Georgia Dome, so the only weather problem might involve getting to and from the stadium.
January 2 - Chicago at Green Bay - This ought to be for all the marbles in the NFC North and it might play a big role in the wild card races in the NFC. This game will take place on the "frozen tundra" of Lambeau Field.
THE YARMULKE WORN AT TEMPLE BY FLORIDA PANTHER FANS!
DANCING WITH THE TEXANS?
I’m sure that you may have heard or read about the schmoe from Wisconsin who became so angry by the sight of Bristol Palin, Sarah Palin’s daughter, performing on “Dancing With The Stars” that he blasted his television with a shotgun. According to the man’s wife, her husband became enraged because a political figure’s daughter was appearing on one of his favorite shows even though he felt she had no talent. Now I know how some Texan fans may be feeling every week when their defense takes the field, though I haven't heard about anyone blasting a TV yet.
LINGERIE FOOTBALL LEAGUE WANTS TO EXPAND!
The Lingerie Football League (LFL) has already survived for two full seasons and has a third season booked and ready to go. The LFL was looking for potential expansion venues and thought that Oklahoma City might be a place to put a team, but the city fathers there made it clear that they wanted nothing to do with the LFL. Now, whether or not you think that the LFL is worth spending your time and money on as a sporting undertaking, that was the thinking in Oklahoma City.
An alternative solution for expansion would be to put an expansion franchise in Victoria, British Columbia, and call them the Victoria Secrets. Another alternative would be a team in Houston, and call them the Houston Harlots.
A CUTE HOLIDAY GIFT FOR YOUR GIRLFRIEND: VICTORIA'S SECRET SOCCER BALL LINGERIE
TEXANS SHOW PLENTY OF GENEROSITY!
The Houston Texans, as well as the other NFL teams, this week announced that in case of canceled games next season, they will offer refunds to ticket holders. What a concept? Only in a generation full of scams and extortions would there be any doubt about this. How generous of the owners, as NFL teams will return ticket money for games not played. Though I don’t attend games, I’m all choked up about this and feel happy for all those who regularly do attend NFL games.
As far as PSL purchasers are concerned, the Texans and the other teams with PSLs said, "BEND OVER!"
IT'S NOW OFFICIAL FOR SUNDAY NIGHT BASEBALL!
As mentioned here almost a month ago as no big secret, ESPN officially announced this past week that the “Sunday Night Baseball” announcing team will consist of Dan Shulman doing play-by-play, with Orel Hershiser being retained as a color analyst, and Bobby Valentine joining the team for the time being at least, that is, until a team entices him to manage.
With Shulman, don’t expect any of the contrived bullshit you got in the past with Jon Miller and Joe Morgan. Shulman and Bobby V, worked well together during ESPN Radio’s baseball playoffs coverage.
A dozen years ago while he was managing the Mets, Valentine mocked the dumb crap that came out of Morgan’s mouth. Ironically, over a decade later, he’s Morgan’s replacement.
TEXAS MIKE AND LONGHORN SCOTT WILL CONTINUE TO PONTIFICATE ABOUT THE LONGHORNS!
Last Sunday (11/28), after a tipped pass led to a Bears’ interception of a Mike Vick pass in the Philadelphia-Chicago game, Fox posted this graphic: “1st Interception Since Dec. 24, 2006.” Wow, what a great run for a starting NFL QB, that is, unless maybe he happened to be in prison, or out of football for a couple of years.
UPSET? UPSET MY ASS!
Most college football fans realize that winning on the road is difficult, especially in SEC venues like Arkansas. Last week, Craig Bolerjack called the LSU-Arkansas game for CBS. He was under the impression that because LSU was ranked higher than Arkansas, that Arkansas was in the process of winning in “an upset.” Even if you didn’t know that Arkansas was a 3.5-point favorite, you can’t show up so unprepared that you would several times tell a national audience something many know is not true. It’s another case of a sports talker being ignorant and our airwaves are obviously full of those types.
The final point ratings (records in parentheses) of the remaining five teams were:
Oregon (12-0) - 96.1
Auburn (13-0) - 94.2
Stanford (11-1) - 93.9
TCU (12-0) – 91.1
Wisconsin (11-1) – 85.9
In accordance with the Crier’s tourney rules, Oregon and Auburn would meet in the Crier’s version of the BCS Championship Game. It is more than likely that these two teams will meet in the actual BCS Championship Game, which will be announced tonight along with the other BCS match-ups.
Once again, the purpose of the Crier’s rankings was to determine the top two teams standing at the end of play yesterday (12/4). Hopefully, the BCS people will have the same two teams as "The Crier" for their championship game when all is said and done.
In the Crier’s BCS Game of the Week, Auburn (-4.5) won and covered vs. South Carolina, ending the Crier’s record in tournament games at 9-6 SU and 9-6 ATS (60%). The Crier's goal is to win in the range of 57-62% ATS and once again he showed why his organization is one of the best at that.
BIRTHDAYS SHMIRTHDAYS
Rich Lord and Robert "Skillet Head" Henslee continue their stupid daily birthday segment on SportsRadio610 while they keep callers on hold. This is an embarrassment to them and their station. Listeners aren’t interested in birthdays of people most of whom they’re not familiar with.
In a recent survey, I heard the names of 61 people who were honored two weeks ago by Rich and Robert and I was only familiar with 21 of them. And I consider myself a fairly knowledgeable person, but I didn’t know that woman from the soap opera or that 40-something TV actress who usually plays a cougar or that drummer from a band or that D-List actress hottie, etc., etc.
I get a feeling that these two guys aren’t familiar with many of the honorees either, as they usually botch up pronunciations of the lesser-known hard-to-pronounce names, yet they act like they know all about these people. They’re just reading some stuff they or their producer (aka “paid intern”) probably googled from a birthday website. At least in the names I heard, they didn’t mention any dead people that John Lopez was guilty of doing before the SR610 Morning Show got smart and dumped their ridiculous birthday segment.
WHO DO ATHEISTS THANK WHEN THEY WIN A GAME?
One of the topics this past week, both in the Peanut Gallery and on local sports talk was the tweet made by Buffalo Bill WR Stevie Johnson.
Just in case you’re not familiar with it, last week it finally happened that a football player instead of pointing heavenward after scoring, pointed to God after dropping a potential TD pass. Johnson dropped a pass that what would have beaten the Steelers, then blamed God on a Twitter post - “I PRAISE YOU 24/7!!!!, “AND THIS IS HOW YOU DO ME!!!!”
Hey, Steve, for what it’s worth, God has been messing with the Bills for years. Just ask Jim Kelly and his Bills’ teammates of the early 1990's.
In this video, Chris McCutchin knows how to give credit where credit is due after making a game-winning TD catch. (http://sports.todaysbigthing.com/sports/2010/12/03)
TEXANS AND OTHERS MAY BE DONE, BUT THERE'S STILL SOME GOOD NFL GAMES LEFT! (SC)
Most sports talkers portray the NFL schedule in December/January as the crème de la crème. This is when the best teams show themselves and show why they are the best teams. I am sure the NFL honchos like to hear that because it focuses interest on their games and at the same time it diverts attention from the fact that there will be an equal number of teams showing up for games with no incentive to play hard or play well. Consider these potential NFL Network Classics:
December 12 - Cleveland at Buffalo and Denver at Arizona
December 19 – Arizona at Carolina and Cleveland at Cincinnati
Devember 25 (Christmas Night) – Dallas at Arizona
January 2 – Minnesota at Detroit
Those six games only represent ones where neither team is a playoff contender and that list does not include any future games where a currently involved team like the Houston Texans plays its way into obliteration in the next couple of weeks, as will surely be the case.
The NFL has to worry about those games this year – particularly as news of a possible work stoppage for 2011 continues to circulate. Live attendance for NFL games has been spotty this year and not just in cities where the team stinks and not just in cities that traditionally have small crowds. Consider the following:
The Tampa Bay Bucs are 8-3. That is a huge turnaround from last year’s 3-13 season. Nonetheless, the Bucs drew less than 45,000 fans to a home game last month.
The St. Louis Rams are tied for their division lead; they hosted the Atlanta Falcons who were tied at the time for the best record in the NFC. That game drew only 53,000 leaving about 20% of the stadium empty.
Teams doing poorly not surprisingly have less than capacity crowds but the “shortfall” from capacity is not trivial.
Not counting Thanksgiving, the Detroit Lions can play to 57,000 fans and leave tons of seats empty.
The Buffalo Bills have drawn less than 57,000 this year to home games.
Now, the weather will get worse in cities like Cincy and Buffalo, other teams will begin to fall out of contention, and that will mean even more empty seats. Empty seats mean diminished revenues; not just from ticket sales, but from the money spent on parking and concessions by fans who fill the seats.
Ten years ago, even in bad sports venues like Jacksonville, Atlanta, and Miami, the NFL teams played to near capacity crowds unless and until the team was hopelessly out of it for the year. Such is no longer the case. Blame it on the economy; blame it on fan disgust with squabbles between millionaires and billionaires; blame it on Rio; or whatever you want to blame it on.
Finding the cause will not happen until all concerned begin to realize that the NFL has peaked and is starting to go downhill attendance-wise. The team owners, the league, and the players need to look at what is happening to attendance and to acknowledge that they all need to do more than assume that once they all agree on a season schedule the fans will be knocking down the gates no matter what. The NFL has to take off its rose-colored glasses because the times have changed.
With all that said, there will still be some good and intense football on display for the rest of the season. The above six listed games from the upcoming NFL schedule are meaningless. However, using symmetry, below is a list of six upcoming games that are must-see games and hopefully, they will be nationally televised, so a larger audience could enjoy them. Some of these games may be played in bad weather conditions, but the NFL's sheepish spectators have been conditioned to that by now:
December 12 - New England at Chicago - Both teams will be in tight division races. The game will match a good offense (Pats) against a good defense (Bears). The Chicago weather could be frightful, but the football could be delightful.
December 19 offers three really good games on the same day:
NY Jets at Pittsburgh - These two teams will also both be in tight division races. The winner here might get home advantage throughout the playoffs or this could be a game that might cost one of the teams a shot at a wild card slot. The weather will almost certainly be “late season football weather”.
Philadelphia at NY Giants - Unless one of these teams self-destructs, this game should give us the NFC East champion and put one of these teams in the playoffs for sure. Another cold weather game, as there won’t be too many fans in short sleeves.
Green Bay at New England - These teams also will be in tight division races. The Pats will have had an effect on the NFC North race with the game against the Bears in the previous week. Hot chocolate sales will be up at this game.
December 27 - New Orleans at Atlanta - The winner here may need the game to keep pace with Tampa Bay and the loser might be in trouble with regard to the wild card. The game is in the Georgia Dome, so the only weather problem might involve getting to and from the stadium.
January 2 - Chicago at Green Bay - This ought to be for all the marbles in the NFC North and it might play a big role in the wild card races in the NFC. This game will take place on the "frozen tundra" of Lambeau Field.
THE YARMULKE WORN AT TEMPLE BY FLORIDA PANTHER FANS!
DANCING WITH THE TEXANS?
LINGERIE FOOTBALL LEAGUE WANTS TO EXPAND!
The Lingerie Football League (LFL) has already survived for two full seasons and has a third season booked and ready to go. The LFL was looking for potential expansion venues and thought that Oklahoma City might be a place to put a team, but the city fathers there made it clear that they wanted nothing to do with the LFL. Now, whether or not you think that the LFL is worth spending your time and money on as a sporting undertaking, that was the thinking in Oklahoma City.
An alternative solution for expansion would be to put an expansion franchise in Victoria, British Columbia, and call them the Victoria Secrets. Another alternative would be a team in Houston, and call them the Houston Harlots.
A CUTE HOLIDAY GIFT FOR YOUR GIRLFRIEND: VICTORIA'S SECRET SOCCER BALL LINGERIE
The chances of scoring with her are as low as most soccer scores.
TEXANS SHOW PLENTY OF GENEROSITY!
As far as PSL purchasers are concerned, the Texans and the other teams with PSLs said, "BEND OVER!"
IT'S NOW OFFICIAL FOR SUNDAY NIGHT BASEBALL!
With Shulman, don’t expect any of the contrived bullshit you got in the past with Jon Miller and Joe Morgan. Shulman and Bobby V, worked well together during ESPN Radio’s baseball playoffs coverage.
A dozen years ago while he was managing the Mets, Valentine mocked the dumb crap that came out of Morgan’s mouth. Ironically, over a decade later, he’s Morgan’s replacement.
TEXAS MIKE AND LONGHORN SCOTT WILL CONTINUE TO PONTIFICATE ABOUT THE LONGHORNS!
When Texas Texas ’ seven losses were at home in Austin
NFL STAT OF THE WEEK!
UPSET? UPSET MY ASS!
MIKE IN DA
HMW
Email: houstonmediawatch@yahoo.com
Blog: http://www.houstonmediawatch.com/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/lesbiancraig
Facebook Search: HMW Shelton
HMW
Email: houstonmediawatch@yahoo.com
Blog: http://www.houstonmediawatch.com/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/lesbiancraig
Facebook Search: HMW Shelton
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