The Tim Thomas Sit Out

It’s been seven months since the Boston Bruins hoisted the Stanley Cup in Vancouver. As is the case with any championship team, the perks that come with being the top dogs of the sport are plentiful. One of those perks is being able to visit the President at the White House the following season; an event that was attended yesterday by everyone on the Boston Bruins team, except for goaltender Tim Thomas.

The 37 year old goalie from Flint, Michigan and apparent hardcore Libertarian opted out of the meet-and-greet with President Barack Obama. Thomas’s absence was an act of protest against the Federal Government, of which he claims: “…has grown out of control, threatening the Rights, Liberties, and Property of the People.” Thomas’s only public statement regarding the event was posted on his Facebook page.

I have little patience for celebrities taking advantage of certain situations in order to express their political and moral beliefs. If drives me nuts when douchebag actors decide the Academy Awards is a perfect venue to spew some nonsense about whatever social injustice is deemed to be “sexy” that year. So I guess it should go without saying that I found the Tim Thomas “sit out” to be as equally revolting, unnecessary and douchey as an Oscar speech from Sean Penn.

The weird thing is, I don’t have any issue with Thomas’s politics. From what I can gather, I agree with most of what he’s saying. However, there is a time and a place for everything. The standard “shoot the shit” moment with the POTUS shouldn’t be seen as an opportunity to protest against the federal government. It’s just in bad taste.

The biggest problem I have with the sit out is how ineffective it is. Does Thomas actually think a black guy from Chicago really knows who he is? Obama couldn’t care less about the Bruins or Hockey in general. Come on Tim! That’s Protesting 101: Know How Important You Are.

Thomas should have done some self-evaluation before he decided to sit out. He should have asked himself: At the end of the day who is going to care about this protest? Am I as important as Tom Brady? Is the NHL as powerful as the NFL? If a goal is scored in Phoenix and nobody is there to see it, does it really count? If Thomas would’ve taken a few minutes to realize his irrelevance, he would’ve come to grips with the fact that any sit out would be seen as a silly rebellion about as effective as the Occupy Wall Street Movement.

I shouldn’t say his protest went completely unnoticed. Anytime a person of any stature speaks out against the President the opposing party is going to pick up on it and undoubtedly support it. Thomas claims that his absence was not about politics or party, stating: “…both parties are responsible for the situation we are in as a country.” He may not adhere to a party but after the news of this incident broke yesterday, Thomas has gotten overwhelming support from conservative bloggers like Andrew Breitbart as well as members of the tea party.

Whether it was Tim Thomas’s intention or not his protest will probably score him a dinner with Glenn Beck. According to Thomas’s Wikipedia page, Glenn Beck is the one person he would most like to have dinner with. Six bucks and my left nut says that Beck hears about this and offers to buy Thomas dinner. Although if I was Beck I would make sure we ate at a restaurant that Tim Thomas liked or else he might not show up.

-Mark

Thoughts and Deliberations from Monday Night Raw 1-23-12

If last night confirmed anything for us, it showed us that the Big Red Machine is back and back with a vengeance. This looked like the Kane of old and when Zack Ryder stepped into the ring for a falls count anywhere match, you knew he was in for trouble. The “match”, if you even want to call it that, went on for quite a while, with Ryder maybe getting one solid hit in on Kane. The rest of it was him getting absolutely brutalized, culminated with him getting choke-slammed right through the metal stage. Ryder lay motionless as Eve looked on in tears, but then, things went from bad to worse. The idiot himself, John Cena, came out AGAIN to say he would take care of this and have Ryder’s back. This needs to stop because as SITB co-editor Phil so aptly put it, Ryder needs to part with his new bro Cena or else he is going to lose his entire fan base. We’ll see what happens when Cena takes on Kane this Sunday at the Royal Rumble, but here’s to hoping that Cena and Ryder is a thing of the past.

Phoenix also witnessed something that no other WWE city has witnessed in 2012, and that is hearing Chris Jericho speak into a microphone. Although he only spoke very briefly, what he uttered is actually pretty promising. Granted the majority of the time he was out there he was shushing the crowd, he uttered these crowd pleasing words as he finished his segment: “This Sunday at the Royal Rumble, it’s going to be the end of the world as you know it.” So now we know that not only is Jericho going to be participating in the Royal Rumble, but apparently has something pretty big up his sleeve. Honestly though, if they keep up this ridiculous heel gimmick they have going with him into Sunday, it would be genius. What they have done with Y2J since his return has been nothing short of amazing. They have him polarize the crowd night in and night out, and he continues to do nothing. He goes from the most loved guy in the arena, right back to the heel in only a few minutes. Imagine if they pulled a stunt like that at the Royal Rumble? I probably wouldn’t be mad.

Last night also saw the return of Jericho’s infamous segment, the Highlight Reel. It was a pretty cool segment and you can watch the clip below.

In other noteworthy news, Brodus “Funkasaurus” Clay won another match, this time taking Heath Slater out in what seemed like 2 minutes. Clay and his new character have been growing on me in recent weeks, but again, he gets a nonsense match against a joke of an opponent. I really think the Funkasaurus is growing on the WWE Universe and that he will be getting a bit of a push soon. Maybe they will use the Royal Rumble to catapult Clay into the mix of contenders or maybe we’ll be forced to watch countless two minute matches and wonder what could be with this massive superstar.

I am going to make a bold Royal Rumble prediction based off of one of last nights matches. The Miz lost to R-Truth (who is getting really annoying) in a match that saw the loser get stuck in the first slot at the Royal Rumble. This means once the 30 Man Rumble starts Sunday, The Miz is going to be the first man in the ring. If he is to win the match, he would need to beat out 29 other competitors to take the cake. I do not think Miz is going to come out the winner, but I am predicting a serious run. Miz is too talented to be stuck in the rut he is in, feuding with R-Truth, and I think a serious run in the Royal Rumble will help his case. Again, you heard it here, Miz is going to last a long time in the Rumble, I’m predicting somewhere in the low to mid twenties.

The big news of the evening centered around CM Punk and John Laurinaitis. Raw started off with Punk coming to the ring and calling out Laurinaitis, verbally humiliating him in front of the WWE Universe, and seeking justice for all the misdoings that Laurinaitis has been responsible for against Punk. Instead that dolt Cena strolls out to he can plea for a match with Kane and that Ryder gets a re-match for his United States Championship. Again ENOUGH with the Cena-Ryder schtick. It sucks. Then Laurinaitis created a tag team match of CM Punk and Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger. This paired up WWE Champion CM Punk against the number one contender Dolph Ziggler for the fourth time in recent weeks, and Ziggler ended up pinning Punk…again. Of course Laurinaitis had something to do with the outcome…again, which drove Punk to his boiling point. He called out the Executive Vice President for Talent Relations and the Interim Raw General Manager and challenged him to a bout later in the evening. Much to our disbelief, Laurinaitis accepted!

Guess what? That match never happened. Shocker I know, but at least something awesome happened. Laurinaitis came out with his boy toy David Otunga and read a letter to the crowd and to Punk. The letter was from Triple-H and the rest of the Board of Directors and it said that Laurinaitis was under evaluation and that his decision making ability has been called into question. It now seems evident that Laurinaitis will have to call a fair match between CM Punk and Dolph Ziggler on Sunday when the WWE Championship is on the line. This is huge news because all along it was clear that Laurinaitis was going to do what he could as the guest referee to screw Punk out of his title.

I really have no idea and really no opinion on who wins the WWE Championship on Sunday. Punk has been at or near the top for a long time and the WWE Universe could use a shake up, and a guy like Ziggler has been climbing the mountain for a while so I would not be shocked to see him take the belt. However, Punk has been and still is the best the WWE has to offer. He is the total package and having him with the title is great for the company because it keeps its older fans happy. Ziggler wouldn’t neccesarily upset the masses, and having a true heel at the top would be fun, but whatever happens, the WWE Title match on Sunday promises to be a great one.

Royal Rumble Predictions:

WWE Championship: Dolph Ziggler defeats CM Punk

Triple Threat Steel Cage Match: Daniel Bryan vs. Big Show vs. Mark Henry: Daniel Bryan wins and keeps his belt, feeding off of the anger from the Big Show’s brutal attack on his girlfriend a mere two weeks ago.

John Cena vs. Kane: Kane defeats Cena with a choke-slam to hell

30 Man Royal Rumble: Randy Orton returns with a bang and wins the Rumble, but not without fights from The Miz and Chris Jericho.

I had to include this segment from last night. EWWWWWW.

The Rise and Fall of Zack Ryder

For all you non-wrestling fans, this post is not for you.  There will be a lot of wrestling terms and insight.  Sorry, we like wrestling here at SITB.   You can tell me its fake all you want, but IT’S STILL REAL TO ME DAMMIT!

Zack Ryder, the Long Island Iced Z, still has yet to really settle into the WWE as a superstar entertainer.  His time in the WWE has been short, and his time as a relevant personality has been even shorter.  However, in the same short amount of time he has been able to make an impact on RAW and in other ways no other wresteler has ever done before.  His career is far from over, but lately the direction of Zack Ryder’s career has been anything but positive.  It’s not his fault either, which is the strangest thing about it.  The blame can be laid on the WWE’s most popular superstar, John Cena.

First a look at Ryder’s roots and where he has emerged from.  Zack made his WWE debut on the smaller brand and now defunct show, “ECW.”  Known as Brett Major at the time he teamed with, “brother” Brian Major, (Curt Hawkins), to win a tag team match in early 2007 in their initial TV showing.  It would stand to be their only victory while on ECW.

A month later, both the Majors were drafted to a more popular brand and weekly taping show, “SmackDown.”  For a few weeks, the tag team would work as jobbers, losing multiple tag team matches.  Not uncommon for developmental talent, so young and new to the business.  Both Brian and Brett would lose in consecutive weeks in singles matches to Drew Macintyre as he was making a push early in his career.  Macintyre is all but invisible now in the WWE.   A month later, Major made his heel debut as both Brian and Brett dressed as Edge impersonators to help Edge win the World Heavyweight Championship at the pay per view, Armageddon.  That would be the end of the Major brothers.

Brian and Brett were rebranded and renamed as Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins.  Nothing really happened after that.  A lot of boring worthless tag matches, but still no singles push or momentum built for Ryder.  During this time, the popular TV show on MTV, Jersey Shore was starting to take off in the late summer of 2009.  Ryder has claimed multiple times he was the original inspiration for the show and Mike, “The Situation”, has ripped him off instead of the other way around.  Zack is  native of Long Island, and has developed a persona as a Long Island d-bag, who fake tans, listens to pop music and of course uses a ridiculous amount of hair product to style his hair.  The Long Island Iced Z was born.

Here is where Zack really starts to come into his own.  With essentially no matches on “Raw”, or “SmackDown”, Ryder had a lot of time on his hands.  He decided to do something about it.    He created his own youtube show in early 2011.  Z! True Long Island story was a homemade, home produced show, giving and inside look into Zack Ryder’s life and his thoughts on his career in the WWE.  He would make a weekly taping of this show for the next 10 months and is now to 40+ episodes.  They are pretty good clips too.  Especially early on, the shows had a lot of substance.  Ryder would talk about how overlooked he was and how he never gets a push.  Check out his initial video here. Ryder would promote his Twitter account, his Facebook page and continue to use all the social media outlets to promote himself while the creatives at the WWE refused to do anything with him.  Eventually Ryder became the self proclaimed, “Internet Champion.”  He even went as far as to buy a custom made $2,000 belt.

The Twitter followers came, the likes piled up on Facebook and the youtube views were going through the roof.  This guy was making himself popular without ever stepping a foot inside the ring week after week.  No wrestler had ever been able to gather such a following without showcasing his talent.  Now this next part may come as a shock, especially if you don’t like wrestling and have gotten this far in the post.  Fans actually want to see wrestling.  We actually want to see what these guys can do in the ring.  Crazy right.  Ryder chants, signs, merchandise and declarations for him to be on the show started to creep up at every taping of, “RAW”, this past summer.  Even CM Punk was getting behind him, trying to get him on the card so everyone could see what he had.  Finally he started to make his mark and appear on the show weekly.  He has skills too in the ring.  The, “rough ryder”, his finishing move is petty awesome.  He has the size and the athleticism to make an impact and be a competitor every week.  This was it, Ryder was the man.  An ultimate face, who everyone was behind.  He was the anti-WWE guy who made it without the help of anyone.  After months of being shut out and put down by the WWE, he had become one of the fastest rising and most popular guys currently on the roster.  Woo Woo Woo, You Know It!

This is where it takes a turn for the worse.  John Cena, of course is the most talked about and most over-rated superstar in the WWE.  We’ll talk about this another time.  Cena took it upon himself to adopt Ryder and, “help” him.  Cena even went as far as to give up a WWE title match so that Ryder could have a chance to wrestle Dolph Ziggler for the United States Championship.  Wait, what?  Ryder was the coolest guy in the WWE, a guy who went from nothing to something in a year’s time.  A guy who had a vision of marketing himself and clearly could draw viewers, sell merchandise and carry some merit in the locker room.  Why would the WWE pair him with Cena and make it look like he needs Cena to succeed?  Ryder went on to win the US title. (Ziggler, now getting a push as WWE Champion contender)  It has continued to get worse with the Cena-Ryder bromance.  They are together every episode of, “RAW”. Cena has most recently saved Ryder from Kane in a monday night episode where Kane tried to drag Ryder through a hole in the ring into, “hell”.  Ridiculous sounding, I know.

It just doesn’t make sense.  Ryder was a fan’s wrestler, a great face.  He didn’t need the help from Cena.  He has completely abandoned his persona and what got him there in the first place.  Fans notice this stuff.  Boo’s are starting to surface in the crowd and this week he lost the US title on a “RAW” taping, not even a pay-per-view.  I hope he, or the powers at be relize this, and get away from the Cena angle.  Time will tell, but in the meantime follow @zackryder on Twitter, like him on Facebook, watch all his youtube videos and of course….take care, spike your hair. WWWYKI!

-Phil

What is Wrong With the Buffalo Sabres?

I grew up and spent the first 17 years of my life in Buffalo, New York. I have grown to love everything about the city, its people, its food, its architecture, its weather and its sports teams. The past six years I have been living in the New York metro area and have still stayed as passionate as I have ever been about Buffalo, mainly through its two sports teams, The Bills and the Sabres. Times have not been to great for the Bills, but the Sabres have been fun for the better part of this past decade. As any hockey fan would know, the Sabres were bought last Spring by billionaire Terry Pegula. Pegula, a lifetime Sabres fan with ties to the WNY region, promised change, he promised success, that Buffalo would become a preferred destination for players, and mainly that the only thing that mattered to him was winning a Stanley Cup…no matter the cost.

That message is one that any fan of any organization would drool over, but in Buffalo it meant more. It meant that finally in our sad sports history, we had a guy who would lead us to that seemingly unreachable championship. Then came the off-season. Pegula did what he promised and opened up his fat wallet and spent money in the free agent market. There was the trade for physical defenseman Robyn Regehr, the signing of skilled defenseman Christian Ehrhoff and the signing of up and coming winger Ville Leino. Granted he probably paid them a bit above market value, but that was besides the point. We already had what we thought was a solid core and foundation built, these new players would merely come in and fill holes that we had, cost wasn’t an issue.

The season started and things were going fairly well, nothing spectacular, but they were right where many expected them to be with a slew of new players getting used to playing together. The Sabres won ten of their first fifteen games, finding themselves in the middle pack of the playoff picture. Fans were happy, but not elated, and expected things only to get better. Then came November 12, 2011. This day may be one that goes down in Sabres infamy, one that saw them heading to Boston for a Saturday night match up with the Bruins. The game was going fine until Milan Lucic came barreling full speed into Ryan Miller as he came out of his crease to play the puck. This wasn’t deemed a major penalty by the refs, and Lucic never received a suspension. In looking back on the Sabres.com recap of the game, all they had to say about the hit was this: “Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said Miller had a bit of a sore neck after being leveled by Milan Lucic when Miller came out of his crease to play the puck and take away Lucic’s breakaway opportunity in the first period.” Little did they know this was going to end up being a lot more than a “sore neck”.

I’m not going to say anything else about the hit, but you probably can guess I wasn’t to happy with it and the leagues lack of response to it. Look at the picture above and if that looks like an unintentional bump, then you and I are not on the same page. Anyways, the normal hockey fan would assume that the team would respond to this hit. They should all skate full speed at Lucic and take care of him. Fights, punches, tackles, anything to repay this dirty hit on your goalie, the guy who has done so much for the team over the years. Nothing happened. I was in awe as I’m sure fans, coaches, teammates on the bench, hell I bet even Lucic was expecting to get roughed up after this. All that happened was a few Sabres skated to him and pushed him up against the boards gently. A group formed, but no fights, no punches thrown, nothing. Sure, Gaustad fought him the next time the teams matched up eleven days later, but at that point it just seemed forced.

Since that game the Sabres have not looked or played like the team they were before that game. Miller had a concussion and missed several games, and since he has returned he has not looked like his former self. This is a goalie who won the Vezina trophy two seasons ago and won the MVP award at the Vancouver Olympics. This type of drop off doesn’t just happen overnight. Whether it is something physical that is still hindering him post-concussion or something mental going on, Miller is not the same. This has been a huge problem, but there is more at hand here.

Everyone reading this who knows about the Sabres is probably saying to themselves that the main problem the Sabres have had is injuries. Yes, that is an undeniable fact. Injuries have been rampant within this team, but that is no excuse. The fact that we have had games this year in which we had 9 (yes, 9) rookies in the starting line up is a testament to just how bad the injuries have been, but I am not buying that as an excuse. These are some of our best prospects, they have chemistry together, and they were not the guys who were noticeably playing poorly in games. Guys like McNabb, Adam, Kassian and Brennan have played pretty well considering they are rookies. Of course they have made mistakes, but again, I do not feel like that is why the Sabres are losing games. I know that key players have been missing games and that does hurt. Guys like Myers, Ehrhoff, Roy, and Ennis have missed significant time and that is part of the problem, but every team deals with injuries. Hell, Sidney Crosby has been out practically the entire season and the Penguins are still in the playoff picture, and honestly is their roster top to bottom that much better than ours on paper (without Crosby)? Maybe, but I am not one to blame injuries.

In my opinion, the core of the Sabres problems has come from a total lack of a killer instinct, accountability and heart. That sounds corny and cliche but that is truly what I believe. There are too many guys on this team, getting paid too much money and they are not playing to the ability that they can and should be playing. Guys like Drew Stafford (7 goals, 15 assists), Derek Roy (9 goals, 16 assists), Paul Gaustad (4 goals, 6 assists), Ville Leino (3 goals, 7 assists) and Robyn Regehr (0 goals, 2 assists) simply are not playing with any sort of heart or passion. There have been countless times this season in which a guy like Stafford or Roy has been right on the doorstep with an incredible opportunity, and just wasn’t able to score. Top tier players, and guys who get paid like Stafford and Roy find ways to score those goals. I know it’s a stupid argument with no real proof, but if you watch enough Sabres games you know what I’m talking about.

I am not like all the ignorant people who are calling for Ruff and Regier’s head. Ruff has been a staple of this team for over a decade now and his consistency is something of value. I don’t wanna hear all the nonsense that he can’t motivate players anymore because that’s not the case. The players need to step up, there is only so much a coach can say or do to get points across, and I guarantee that Lindy is doing his best at that. Also, Regier did his job. He brought in guys that were talented, and expected to perform. The fact that they aren’t playing that way is not neccesarily his fault.

A trade might shake things up, but would we really get anything of value for these guys right now? Honestly what could we get in a trade for Stafford? He is an overpaid, underachiever. I think they need to ride this out with the team and coaches they have and players need to perform. They need an edge. They need tenacity. They need a drive and desire to succeed. That may come, that may not, but we’ll just have to wait and see. I’m getting close to chalking this season up as a failure, but I’m not quite there yet. Yes, they have lost 9 straight road games in regulation and things aren’t looking up with five more road games in a row against the Blackhawks, Jets, Blues, Devils and Canadiens. If they can somehow manage to win two (or three) of these, it will be a success, something they can run with for the stretch of games after the all star break. It is going to take something we haven’t seen out of the Sabres in quite some time (dare I say 2006?). It’s going to take heart.

Thoughts and Deliberations from Monday Night Raw 1-16-2012

Last night on Raw, some interesting and dare I say major events transpired. First and foremost, former Hardcore Champion and all around favorite of mine and many wrestling fans, Mick Foley made his triumphant return to the WWE Universe. He came out and plead his case for a spot in the upcoming Royal Rumble. The crowd went nuts, and I was pretty pumped too…only to have Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and Interim Raw General Manager John Laurinaitis shut the idea down almost immediately. As much of a dope Laurinaitis is, he has been making me laugh the past few weeks and is actually growing on me. CM Punk proceeded to come out and endorse Foley’s case for Royal Rumble, but Laurinaitis wasn’t having any of it. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see on this one, but I really hope Foley makes an appearance at the Rumble.

There was also a huge match in which the United States Championship was on the line. Zack Ryder, who held the belt going into Monday Night, was viciously and brutally attacked by the Big Red Monster Kane last week. Ryder was hobbled by a back injury and was forced to go into a match with Jack Swagger…with his championship on the line. Naturally with his back in the state it was in, Ryder didn’t stand a chance against the bigger Swagger. Swagger targeted Ryder’s back from the start and brutally beat Ryder to take the belt and become the new United States Champion, a title fitting for a man who is known as the All-American American. Personally, I used to love Ryder when he was working his way up the ranks, and in recent weeks I have grown frustrated with who he has become. I hate his pairing with Cena and am getting a little tired of his gimmick. Until he changes things up a bit, I don’t see Ryder getting a big push anytime soon.

On a totally different note, Brodus Clay had another fun, yet short match, this time matching up with JTG (WHO?!). Honestly, at first I was not a huge fan of Clay and his new alter ego, “The Funkasaurus”, but now I am loving it. The WWE didn’t need another generic big, fat, power wrestler. Brodus Clay as The Funkasaurus is something different and something fun and I am liking it. I wonder how long it takes for him to start getting some real matches, matches that last longer than a minute and a half. His goofy dance moves both in his introduction and during the match are awesome, and although he isn’t the most talented wrestler, he is huge and his power moves are impressive. I wouldn’t be shocked if he makes a run at the Rumble in two weeks.

Last but not least on my thoughts from the latest edition of Raw is the phenomenon that is Chris Jericho. The guy returned a few weeks ago after years of absence from the WWE and his return was met with great crowd reaction and excitement from fans all over the world. Hell, #Y2J was the number one trend on Twitter! However, the crowd eventually went sour towards Jericho. He just came out and went nuts for between 5-10 minutes, running around, screaming, pumping the crowd up…but never once picking up a mic and never performed a single wrestling move. He has continued this gimmick, and last night the crowd in Anaheim was excited because they thought he was going to be featured in the main event match, a 3 man tag match featuring Mark Henry, Dolph Ziggler & David Otunga  against Chris Jericho, CM Punk & Daniel Bryan.

I was real pumped too not gonna lie. Then, when I believe Punk tagged Jericho, Jericho ran in the ring and proceeded to run around and pump up the crowd for a few seconds. Again, he didn’t perform one wrestling move, slapped tag partner Daniel Bryan on the chest for the tag, and walked down the ramp and went backstage. And that was that. Henry, Ziggler and Otunga ended up winning the match, but the real story continues to be Jericho, his arrogance and his insistance on not saying or doing anything week in and week out. How long will this last you may ask? That is a question I simply don’t have the answer to, but I have a sneaking suspicion it will play into the Royal Rumble, a mere two weeks away.

Any thoughts you have from RAW or just the wrestling world in general, feel free to let us know in the comments!

Urban Meyer Joins Ohio State, Health Problems Gone?

 

So Urban Meyer is joining Ohio State as their new head football coach. This is after weeks of denying rumors that he was discussing joining them as coach, and only a short time after leaving the University of Florida in January 2011 due to “health concerns” and wanting to spend more time with family. I’m not sure why, but I feel like there is something more at play here. He wanted out of Florida for some reason and used health and family as a reason to do so.

Let’s not beat around the bush, this guy is an incredible coach. He has compiled records of  17-6 at Bowling Green, 22-2 at Utah and 65-15 at Florida. Those numbers are no joke and his career record of 104-23 (.819) and Bowl record of 7-1 (.875) is nothing to slouch at. He is probably going to become wildly successful at OSU within two years, but I just cannot fully believe that he left for health and family reasons. Nothing concrete has come out medically and all that they said was that he had stress and was neglecting his health. Yeah, that’s called being a big time college coach. Every coach has high stress and most of them neglect their health because they spend like 18 hours a day working and might not have time to hit the gym.

Also, if he wanted to spend time with family and get “healthy” again, why take a job almost immediately at ESPN? Why not spend the year with family and relax and vacation? Don’t tell me he needed the money either. He was getting paid handsomely at Florida and could have lived very comfortably without that ESPN paycheck. I have a feeling that some things are going to start leaking out one of these days. Whether it’s a Tim Tebow sex scandal, recruiting violations or something else, I have a gut feeling that Meyer left Florida for a reason. All things considered, he is back in his home state coaching the Buckeyes, which is his dream job. Maybe that was all part of his grand scheme, and if that’s the case, good for you Urban. All I know is that I think that there is some sort of underlying story here that we won’t know about for quite some time. Remember when this stuff comes out eventually, us here at SITB told you first! Leave some comments on what you think about Urban Meyer and if you think we are idiots for posing these questions.

On another note….Helloooooooo Urban Meyer’s daughter.

Stevie Johnson Charges It To The Swag

So the Bills lost yesterday and that made me sad, but at this point the season is pretty much a lost cause so I wanted to bring up some pretty noteworthy things that happened in yesterdays game. First of all, Stevie Johnson owned Darrelle Revis, arguably the best CB in the NFL. He had 8 catches for 75 yards and continuously got open on Revis with shifty, hard to dissect routes. He was reliable and resiliant all throughout the game, giving Fitz a target in a must win game for the Bills.

Which brings me to the two points I want to make about Stevie Johnson. The guy is fun and obviously loves what he is doing for a living. His celebrations and antics have been fun over the years and yesterday was not an exception. To any non-Jets fans his celebration yesterday was nothing short of gold. First, he pulls out the guns and fake shoots himself in the leg, poking fun at Plaxico Burress’ arrest two years ago. Then he punked the annoying and repetitive Santonio Holmes “Jet” TD celebration. Stevie did the patented “Jet” celebration and proceeded to crash and burn the jet, falling to the ground. That was awesome and funny and to Bob Costas and Dustin Keller and everybody else who took things way too seriously, calm down bro. Plax didn’t even care, he just took a nice jab at Stevie to the press in the post-game saying “I’ve seen worse, and I’ve heard worse, so, it doesn’t bother me at all. The result I’m looking at is we won the football game.” All of that netted Stevie a 15 yard penalty, which resulted in a bullshit kick by Dave Raynor, which led to a Jets touchdown that should have never happened had the ball been kicked off correctly. The penalty was dumb, yes. But that did not cost them the TD, the awful kick was. Maybe the celebration was too much, but by no means did it cost the Bills the game like Stevie and several media outlets have been saying.

But Stevie, after that gem of a celebration you went on to shoot yourself…again. You had one sure drop, and one potential drop that could have and should have won the game for the Bills. The first one was bad…real bad. Like on the level of his drop in the Steelers game last season bad. If he catches it, maybe he gets to the end zone, maybe he doesn’t, but a guy in a contract year who wants to be paid like a #1 receiver, NEEDS to make that catch. It is totally inexcusable to drop it. Now the guy is developing a reputation to drop the big catches blah blah. Maybe it’s a fair assumption that he just isn’t clutch and doesn’t have that killer instinct, but you still NEED to make that catch. I was watching it in my friends basement and there was a collective “WHAT THE F*CK! CATCH THE F*CKING BALL!” screamed by everyone in attendance.

Maybe it’s not the Bills year, but after the promising start and wins over the Patriots and Eagles, this year felt like it may have been different. But it wasn’t. Just another brutal year like 2008’s 5-1 start, that just gives you hope and promise and kicks you square in the face when it falls apart. In the end of it, I don’t have any problem with Stevie’s celebration, but I do have a problem how he didn’t finish the game. You celebrate like that in the first half, get a 15 yard penalty, you catch those balls at the end and you win the f*cking game for your team. End of story. Stevie Johnson charged it to the SWAG once again, for better or for worse.

Rant About Stupid Sports Fans

Fans, we apologize that our blog has been defunct for quite some time now. Life came in and shit got busy around these parts, but we’re back and although posts won’t be going up as frequently as they were in the past, we’ll try to do what we can. This is more of a random post, but it is about something that has bothered me for years and I have never really said anything about it. Here goes, feel free to comment and tell me if it sucks or I’m an idiot or you disagree.

I was watching the Buffalo Bills vs. New York Jets game yesterday. The game sucked but that’s besides the point. After a touchdown the scoring player ran towards the crowd and they showed a shot of the fans. There, sitting no more than three rows from the field was some douche in a Pittsburgh Steelers jersey and hat. This sounds like something that is just petty and stupid to complain about but it is one of the most annoying things to see. Even if you don’t have a loyalty to the home team and are just an NFL fan, it has to bother you just a little bit. Why would some guy feel the need to just get decked out in a team’s gear that has no relevance to this game being played. Like clockwork, you can count on it happening at almost every game of any sport you go to. Like bro, we get it you like the Steelers, but don’t wear their shit to a game that has nothing to do with them.

You know what I’m talking about. This is not singled out for Buffalo Bills home games, or even NFL games for that matter. You can go to a Yankees vs. Orioles game at Yankee Stadium in May and you are guaranteed to see at least one or two assholes wearing a Red Sox hat or hoodie just to be different, and make a statement. I hate these people more than I can explain in a simple blog post. I have no issue with there being fans of the opposing team being there and supporting their team and wearing jerseys/hats/hoodies…whatever. That is expected. I have done it multiple times and so probably have you. Do that and enjoy watching your team. But don’t be an asshole wearing a Peyton Manning jersey to a Giants vs. Redskins game and don’t be a douche wearing a Chase Utley jersey to a Mets vs. Nationals game. By all means, be a fan of your team and love them and cheer for them, just do it when and where they are playing. Don’t try to be cool and make a statement by wearing a random jersey for the sole purpose of getting a reaction from every other person in the stadium. They don’t think you are cool, or original or trendy. They think you suck.

P.S. On a similar and related note, please also don’t be like this guy below. This guy is the worst of the worst. He wore a LeBron James Miami Heat jersey to a Cleveland Indians game following “The Decision” and the only reason you do that is to piss people off.  These fans are already miserable enough. Cleveland sports fans are dedicated, loyal, and put up with their teams sucking. Don’t be this guy. And don’t pretend you live in Cleveland and were just a LeBron fan, not a Cavs fan.

Sorry if this was poorly written and pointless, something just needed to be said.

1-8

 Well that went well, New York. At least the Rangers had the decency to win a game, thankfully in their own building.

I knew this wasn’t going to be 1994 all over again, and I’m sure every rational human being could agree, but this was kind of embarrassing. I honestly thought the Blueshirts could have won this series (Before Ryan Cally died). As as for the Knickerbockers, well those first 2 games destroyed morale. I mean just took a dump right on your dads chest kind of low. I expected the Knicks to get at least 2 wins, not 0. Fucking bums.

I am going to root for the Heat now in the NBA because I win 50 bucks from a friend if they win, as for Hockey, I really could care less now that the Rangers are out. I might as well root for the Sabres I guess, but I’d rather just keep my pursuit for Emma going the continue to care for Hockey.

Madison Square Garden Tenants, be ashamed. I sure as shit am.

FREE MONEY

Well it’s not documented unless you ask my bookie, but so far Mozz is 9 for 10 on playoff picks. The only one I missed was the Blazers game. They couldn’t cover the 5 points for me. I’ve picked every other spread right and hit the nuggets over last night. Also hit the Memphis money line. But now I’m just bragging.

Tonights lock. Since I already picked the heat game correctly, assuming the 6ers don’t come back.

The Indiana Pacers. +12 in the playoffs after a very near win in game one. This has to be a lock. I expect a nice low scoring game.(I’d take the under too) Probably to be taken over be D. Rose in the 4th. just another day at the office for the soon to be MVP. but no way they win by 12

Book it.

Mozz’s next commish check Pacers +12

Your welcome