Two recent pigskin-related items:
1. New York Giant quarterback Eli Manning signed a $97 million 6-year deal. While not the best QB in the NFL (or his immediate family), he is an All-Pro and a Super Bowl MVP. He is guaranteed $41 million, meaning if someone Theismanns him $56 million reverts to the Giants before the bone’s back in his leg. [Read more →]
On Wednesday, an announcement was made that there would be a massive demonstration outside of Lincoln Financial Field before the Eagles preseason game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, the game in which Michael Vick would make his on-field debut as an Eagle. No surprise there, right? Many people (myself included) were outraged by Vick’s signing. It was inevitable that there would be demonstrations. Reading deeper into the announcement, though, I discovered that this demonstration would be in support of Vick, rather than against him. Huh? [Read more →]
Before we begin let me say I love, perhaps to an unhealthy extent, the following hobbies: Dungeons & Dragons, Warhammer 40K, reading graphic novels, and fantasy football. I love the Phillies and Flyers too, but fantasy baseball/hockey isn’t my thing. Finally, this isn’t just a review — it’s also a public strategizing session. [Read more →]
I am not a fan of Twitter. I feel that anything truly worth saying requires 200 characters at minimum. I think the fact Ashton Kutcher established himself as the F. Scott Fitzgerald of this medium suggests it is one to avoid whenever possible. I do concede, however, it’s possible it saved a life. This week Michael Beasley of the Miami Heat checked into a rehabiliation hospital to deal with “possible substance and psychological issues.” Before this, he hinted at his problems with Twitters including, “Feelin like it’s not worth livin!!!!!!! I’m done.” Did someone close to him see these Twitters? Did just typing out his thoughts help Beasley realize how desperate he was? Did he originally consider using only six exclamation points but then added a seventh to be on the safe side? [Read more →]
This week, the Associated Press published its first college football poll of the year, listing the University of Florida Gators as the number one team in the land. Of course, none of the teams in the poll have played a single game yet. [Read more →]
Philadelphia is a town whose sports legends include Charles Barkley, Pete Rose, Chuck Bednarik, Wilt Chamberlain, and Steve Carlton, who in addition to being Hall of Fame-level talents in their respective sports also found the time to throw folks through windows, be convicted for tax evasion, joke about nearly crippling people, pleasure many ladies, and offer ideas that are at best “colorful” and at worst “anti-Semitic.” Philly itself is the town that cheered when Michael Irvin had a dangerous neck injury (in fairness, Irvin did play for the Cowboys). Now former Atlanta Falcons quarterback/ one-time Don King of dogfighting Michael Vick’s arrived. Wow. [Read more →]
I don’t imagine that there are too many people out there who have not heard that the Philadelphia Eagles signed Michael Vick this week. I am not sure I have ever been as surprised by a piece of sports news as I was by this. The dilemma that has been presented to me is not one with which I know how to deal. [Read more →]
I believe that Michael Vick deserves a second chance. I also believe that for every drop of rain that falls a flower grows. I believe that someone in the great somewhere hears every word. And only that someone can answer the question of whether Michael Vick, the puppy killer, deserves a second shot at becoming a multimillionaire on Philadelphia’s dime. How many cons walk out of prison and hook up with the modest (by NFL standards) money offered by the Philadelphia Eagles?
We will pay the puppy killer more money in a single year than you or I have earned in our entire lives. [Read more →]
Jean Jacques Rousseau, Arthur Rimbaud, and Jean Genet are just a few canonical writers who could be seen to have questionable character. Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot were fascists or held views that could be connected to such political “philosophy.” Martin Heidegger, asshole, was a Nazi who never once renounced his views. I wonder if he ever noticed his predecessor, Friedrich Nietzsche, held opposing ideas but no tenured chair. Many, many famous writers have abused their wives and girlfriends or left them with kids and no emotional or financial support. These include half of my favorites: Sherwood Anderson, Saul Bellow, Fred Exley, Ray Carver, Richard Yates, and John Cheever. Can you write great fiction without at least a broken marriage on your transcript?
A guy named Manning agreed to a contract this week that will make him the highest paid player in the NFL. Peyton, you ask? Umm….no. Eli. The highest paid player in the league. You read that correctly. [Read more →]
10. The Bangor Maniacs
9. The San Pedro Pedrophiles
8. The Washington Bailouts
7. The Tampa Bay Windows
6. The Charlotte Webs
5. The San Francisco Bone Smugglers
4. The Detroit Layoffs
3. The Boston CreamPies
2. The Hoboken Hobos
1. The Major League Assholes
Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.
It was bizarre to read that the boxer Arturo Gatti was murdered by his wife during a vacation in Brazil. Somehow it makes even less sense to learn his death has now been ruled a suicide. The life of a boxer is far too often a hard one, but Gatti seemed to have a good run. He was, as the cliche goes, a warrior, capable of both dishing out and withstanding severe punishment. It enabled him to rack up a 40-9 record, including participating in four bouts Ring Magazine dubbed “Fight of Year” (he went 2-2), ensuring box office clout far beyond that of most fighters of his caliber (while he gutted out victories most of his career, he was dominated by greats Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather). [Read more →]
Have you ever had one of those moments where you see a headline and it completely makes your head spin? You almost think that you must have looked like you were in a cartoon at that moment, eyes bugging out six inches from your head while still remaining attached. I had one of those moments this weekend when I read the following headline: “Newport News to hold celebration for Michael Vick.” [Read more →]
Although the Jimmy Fallon character in “Fever Pitch” was a caricature of the die hard Red Sox Nation citizen — his team loyalty vying with his love interest for his time and heart — a weekend I recently spent in Washington, D.C., gave me to believe his zealotry may have been only slightly exaggerated. [Read more →]
At a press conference this week for the SEC Media Day, Tim Tebow, the Heisman-winning quarterback from the University of Florida, was asked if he was a virgin. If you are not familiar with Tebow, that might seem like the oddest question you have ever heard of from a football press conference. [Read more →]
The story of what happened this week to Erin Andrews, an ESPN reporter, has been splashed all over the internet. I left it out of my Bad Sports, Good Sports column because I didn’t yet have the full details, and considered it only very loosely sports-related. I feel like I am not being fair to say nothing about it, though. If you were not aware, she was filmed sans clothing in her hotel room via a peep hole of some sort. [Read more →]
Twenty-six years after he last won a major, 59-year-old Tom Watson nearly won the British Open this week. In fact, he had a one stroke lead on the final hole, before he bogeyed the 18th and was forced into a playoff against Stewart Cink, who outlasted him in the playoff. Winning the tournament would have been an accomplishment of staggering proportions. Not only would Watson have been the oldest player to ever win a major, he would have bettered the record by eleven years. [Read more →]
Pro wrestling isn’t real, but the athletes doing it are; anyone who watched Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler knows the human body wasn’t meant to withstand attacks with chairs and staple guns, no matter how carefully they’re choreographed. Brock Lesnar is the ultimate example of this. [Read more →]
On Sunday, I went to Philadelphia Park for a friend’s birthday. We spent the day out in the picnic grove, watching and betting on the horse races while celebrating. Our group included several kids under the age of ten. Looking around, I saw quite a number of kids enjoying the place with their families. I am not sure why this surprised me, but I really had not pictured the track as a family place. [Read more →]
I am amazed at the fact that I can be regularly surprised by things that happen in the world of sports, despite the number of years that I have spent watching games. When the surprising things involve incredible acts of athleticism, it’s a great thing. More often, though, I am amazed at the lengths to which the media will force us to bear witness to whatever crap they think we should be talking about today. I am generally not one to rail against the media, realizing that what we watch and read is often a real reflection of what we are already discussing. Sometimes, though, there really is something to the idea that certain omnipresent sports outlets (read: ESPN) have a vested interest in making sure that we focus closely on the things that they are most interesting in bringing to us. [Read more →]
