Friday, December 26, 2008

Hope you got what you wanted

Christmas Day is past, but you may still be enjoying some down time. The bowls restart today and South Carolina arrives here in Tampa, so for me it's back to business. For those who question whether Steve Spurrier is just playing out the string as coach of the Gamecocks, a move he's about to make shows just how committed he is to finding a way to make things work. Former Eagles and Steelers star running back Duce Staley co-hosts the show before mine on my Columbia station 107.5 the Game. He's a great guy, but he's also a no-BS person when it comes to football. Now Spurrier's going to add Duce to his staff in some sort of role after the bowl game. Spurrier's got many skills, but he's never been a big fan of motivational gimmicks or pep talks. That was fine at a place like Florida where he had top talent and kids who cared, but it's been a problem at a place with a culture of mediocrity. Bring in Duce is a move out of Spurrier's comfort zone, but it's the kind of thing it will take for him to win in Columbia.

The Yankees signing Mark Teixeira on Tuesday has triggered another wave of complaining about the unfairness of it all. The Milwaukee Brewers owner wants a salary cap, something the players will never agree to. The reality is, the Yankees can't sign everybody. Teixeira's a nice player, but I think they're complete idiots for giving him that kind of money for eight years. The guy hit .308 with 33 homers and has shown zero ability to be a difference maker in the clubhouse. Will he handle New York and the expectations that come with this contract well? Who knows - Giambi certainly didn't live up to his megadeal. Maybe the Yankees will be the greatest team in the history of the game, but with guys like Teixeira and A.J. Burnett the reason why they supposedly will I'll believe it when I see it.

I assume the Bucs won't blow it against the Raiders, and the Eagles hate the Cowboys enough they'll play hard regardless of what happens in the Bucs game. Tampa Bay will promote secondary coach Raheem Morris to defensive coordinator in the post-Kiffin era. It's probably a good move, although when you take a chance on a young guy you never know for sure.

Brett Favre isn't sure if he wants to come back next year or not. I'm shocked. Hopefully Miami can finish this attention whore's career off this weekend. Even if they don't, the Jets still won't make the playoffs - that comeback was really worth it, huh?

While watching the Celtics lose to the Lakers yesterday, I saw poor Lisa Salters have to pretend she was interested in talking to Kevin James about his upcoming movie Paul Blart: Mall Cop. It looks awful, which is why it's coming out in January. It's a notrious dumping ground for bad movies, and between Blart, some sort of Underworld prequel (now even more werewolvey!) and Unborn it appears this year is no exception.

1 comment:

Jeremiah said...

I just don't understand why everyone in the sports media and baseball in general is freaking out over the Texeira signing. They apparently don't realize this is what the Yankees are and have been for the past 9 years. They have no patience to develop their own talent, they apparently have already given up on Hughes and Kennedy, and they ran out their most successful manager of the past 40 years to hire a guy with one year managerial experience who led them to a third-place finish. They also have the House that The Boss built, so another playoff-less season would be humiliating for all the Yankees. So what can they do? Overspead on name free agents to fill their holes and hope it all works out. I'll be suprised if they don't add Manny Ramirez, as well, just because they can. After all, they already have zero outfield speed, why not get another liability in the outfield just to have another star in the lineup?
Are they better? Probably, but the Red Sox will be healthier next year and the Rays aren't going anywhere, so it'll still be a dogfight.

The thing about the Dolphins / Jets game that has been so weird this week is all the talking heads on ESPN pointing out all the problems with Favre and the Jets and why they're playing so awful, yet almosr every single one thinks the Jets will win this game because "Favre will get hot" or "Favre won't let his career end like this." Ugh!!
Of course the Jets can (and probably should) win this game, but it'll be more because the Dolphins defense hasn't generated any kind of pass rush on anybody for weeks and they just don't have the playmakers around Pennington to score enough points against a decent defense.

As a fan, though, I would love to see Favre's season end Sunday with a meltdown performance that nobody will blame him for. Go Dolphins!!