Please God, get T.O. and ARod off my TV

[INSIDE99]

I'm not a praying man that asks for personal favors, but geez.

ESPN gets worse as the years move on. Over the past 48 hours they have brought in over 20 different people to discuss T.O. and his Dallas release. They have spent 20 minutes of Sports Center on T.O. and a full 1 minute on the NFL guys that died at sea. Too many cooks in the kitchen with everything they do. It's gone beyond insane. I can't watch that network.

This country is in bad shape, and I am not just talking economics. If ESPN didn't broadcast actual games, I would have no problem blocking that channel.

Sorry for the complaining. Just turn the channel...and I did as always.

[INSIDE99]

Also, continuing the NFL note on the same thread. Here are my second day draft sleepers at each position.

QB
Rudy Carpenter - Arizona State
Stephen McGee - Texas A&M (moving up fast though)

RB
Rodney Ferguson - New Mexico
Tyrell Fenroy - UL Lafayette (won't get drafted)

FB
Jorvorskie Lane - Texas A&M
Fui Vakapuna - BYU

WR
Austin Collie - BYU (moving up fast)
Brennan Marion - Tulsa
Casey Fitzgerald - Nort Texas (won't get drafted)

TE
Dan Gronkowski - Maryland
Darius Hill - Ball State

OT
Andrew Gardner - Georgia Tech
Dallas Reynolds - BYU

OG
Cedric Dockery - Texas
Louis Vasquez - Texas Tech

C
Ryan McDonald - Illinois
Juan Garcia - Washington

DE
Nick Reed - Oregon
Phillip Hunt - Houston (a second day steal if still around)

DT
George Hypolite - Colorado
Matt Kroul - Iowa

OLB
Zack Follett - Cal
Adam Leonard - Hawai'i

MLB
Maurice Crum - Notre Dame
Derrick Nicholson - Florida State
Joe Mortensen - Kansas

CB
Joe Burnett - UCF
DeAngelo Smith - Cincinnati

S
Courtney Greene - Rutgers
Traimaine Goddard - North Carolina

[Coach 3]

...todd---first excellent and helpful take on draft sleepers...also wondering if heyward-bey ( badly underutilized at maryland) will blossom in nfl and whether graham harrell's smarts ands decent mid-range ball he throws will turn him into he next iteration of the drew brees type in the nfl..hoping so...kid got screweed out of heisman consideration and he is very smart...if stiffs like collins, boller, harrignton could hang around nfl for years, i see a definite place somewhere for harrell...
now while you are lamenting the naitonal b.s. on "people magazine sports" coverage...can we please also ask for the ray lewis " baltimore is my city but wnat to play for dallas" soap opera to end...here in baltimore, THE MOST PROVINCIAL major sports city in america and a town that barely acknowledges national sports outside the state of maryland and where these bumpkin fans worship indiscriminately their players ( e.g. the double murderer lewis; i bet cal ripkens toenail clipings could get $500 at an auction), we have gotten inundated with ray lewis stuff recently...the funniest part was when rays thug-front man came out last week and said " ray would never play in baltimore again", the soprts radio call-ins were irate, ranting about how selfish ray was, how he was played out and over the hill on the field, how ravens laywers saved his ass form a double murder involvment), bui as soon as all was made nice and ray signed here, everyone loves our guy ray again...he's the fqce of the ravens..a lifetime raven... the heart of the ravens..hey, lets name the field after him!...just complete sports yokels here in b-more...

[MasterBevo]

The world must have achieved harmonic unification...

Coach 3 and Bevo AGREE on something!!!!

[Blue Hen]

Please add Ray 'thug' Lewis and Manny Ramirez to that 'enough is enough' list. Thanks.

[Coach 3]

are. like a good number of repub posters here ( e.g. rossman, tommy trojan etc.). intelligent, likable guys i enjoy IN SPITE OF POLITICAL DIFFERRENCES...so i am staying away form the politics henceforth to enjoy the intelligent , witty and insightful sports posts... fyi-i am much more comfortable with a beer and bluegrass or rock and roll...so dont peg me as a quiche and opera type....not all libs are lockstep in birkenstock kumbaya types protesting the death penalty and other such dippy, dopey causes....and anyway- i have been an honorary Longhorn fan since 1968, so its hard not like you for that alone sir...

[Blue Hen]

and add Earnhart Jr. to that list. This guy is a zillionaire only because of his Dad's geatness. IMO, he's a punkish, spoiled snot and VASTLY overrated as a driver.

[EvilVodka]

Agreed with above

Also add any soap opera involving anything Shaq says...what are we, junior high kids? "did you hear what Shaq said about [fill in the blank]? oh my God!"

retarded

[MasterBevo]

Beer and Bluegrass... TWO MORE Things...

BTW, I don't hate Lefties.. especially, the "likable" ones... I just don't understand how seemingly other-wise intelligent people get to be so mis-guided... :-)

But... I'll accept the offer of truce. (in all fairness, you get one more gratuitous shot at my politics)... and, try to focus on sports..

This is one of the first sites where, I learn things from nearly every "sports" posts. Good group of folks.

[INSIDE99]

Harrell will be like every Red Raider QB before him, well maybe a bit more. A back up at the next level...which actuall is more.

But I will say if the term "system player" keeps coming up for these ungodly numbers Texas Tech continues to put up every single season, then you have to say on the other hand that Mike Leach is a total genius. I mean who gets the credit here? Somebody has to.

Darrius Heyward-Bey is a steal at the next level. If the Ravens (who need a WR big time) snag him, I am loving it. We would not be having these Draft discussions about Michael Crabtree if he had Chris Turner or Jordan Steffy throwing him the ball while the OL continued to help him up off the turf.

[Coach 3]

...i am gonna make a friendly wager of some sort with ya todd for a 3 or 4 years from now......i think this kid has both Rivers QB IQ ( Harrell was the best college QB in recent memory in finding 2nd and 3rd downfield options while on the run), throws a beautifully accurate mid-range pass with adequate nfl velocity and athletically is no less of a liability in the pocket than rivers, eli manning or fumblin' joe flacco for that matter...all these metrics used by scouts to rank qb prospects and the obligatory cliches like "he's gotta see over the offensive line" wind up with robotic types like todd collins, boller etc. becoming hugely disappointing flops..whatever "that QB intangible " is that makes a drew brees or a phillip rivers, i have a hunch this kid has it...i think he is in any pro system system better than reisling, chase daniel and maybe eventaully even sanchez...

[Blue Hen]

fumblin' Flacco , Huh ?

[Coach 3]

its correctible and he improved with it, but in the preseason and early part of it was a liability...mostly due to blind side hits .....so partly not his fault..otherwise, i think in about 12 years flacco will leave baltimore in the upper pantheon of great baltimore nfl qb's...he actually has a better arm than bert "the rifle" jones,whose potentially HOF career was cut short by a serioius neck injury... what a start to a qb career Flacco had.he went from an interesting prospect/project to a career -keeper over the course of 3 months...i am not a ravens fan, so am saying it objectively- he could be a great one--. the great veolcity we saw on his on his ball in college has been coupled with with consistent middle and long range passing touch. he has adeqUAte molibility and more qb iq/savvy than most rookies in the past decade....and btw- he is incredibly humble and understated kid....reports are he is embarassed being recognized in a super market or 7-11 here in pikesville...he is responsive to the public but simply can't understand all the fuss about him...

[Blue Hen]

Well, I worry about a 'sophmore flop' back to Earth for Joe. I don't know about potential for greatness but he's sure got the gun and accuracy and he sure is a humble young man. I get MASN on my DISH so I get lots of Ravens commentary and news and everybody seems to like him in Baltimore. If the Ravens could come up with a big play WR I think they'd let Joe throw down field a bunch more. Has Joe bought a car yet ? I heard that he never had one at UD.

[MasterBevo]

...i am gonna make a friendly wager of some sort with ya todd for a 3 or 4 years from now......i think this kid has both Rivers QB IQ ( Harrell was the best college QB in recent memory in finding 2nd and 3rd downfield options while on the run), throws a beautifully accurate mid-range pass with adequate nfl velocity and athletically is no less of a liability in the pocket than rivers, eli manning or fumblin' joe flacco for that matter...all these metrics used by scouts to rank qb prospects and the obligatory cliches like "he's gotta see over the offensive line" wind up with robotic types like todd collins, boller etc. becoming hugely disappointing flops..whatever "that QB intangible " is that makes a drew brees or a phillip rivers, i have a hunch this kid has it...i think he is in any pro system system better than reisling, chase daniel and maybe eventaully even sanchez...


What I also like about Harrell is, he has excellent "pocket presence".... he doesn't get happy feet. He keeps his eyes downfield.

I expect him to do OK in the NFL... Certainly, he's as good as guys like Jeff Garcia.. I bet Minnesota would be happy to have him. Face it, the talent required to be a starter in the NFL ain't what it used to be!

[Blue Hen]

NFL QB talent requirements aren't as stringent as they used to be ? Give me the 'how's' and 'why's' of that, Bevo. I'm not dis-agreeing, just curious how you concluded that. Because of expansion ?

[ZOOMBAG]

I'm not a praying man that asks for personal favors, but geez.

ESPN gets worse as the years move on. Over the past 48 hours they have brought in over 20 different people to discuss T.O. and his Dallas release. They have spent 20 minutes of Sports Center on T.O. and a full 1 minute on the NFL guys that died at sea. Too many cooks in the kitchen with everything they do. It's gone beyond insane. I can't watch that network.

This country is in bad shape, and I am not just talking economics. If ESPN didn't broadcast actual games, I would have no problem blocking that channel.

Sorry for the complaining. Just turn the channel...and I did as always.

Virtually NO takers so far in the new stadium. Yankees and A-Rod deserve each other. Just wish Joba Chamberlain could play somewhere else.

And at least TO ends up in NFL-oblivion in Buffalo.

[Coach 3]

has gone about 90 professional sesaons without a championship in 3 pro sports ( recall the buffalo braves in the nba) with its most successful team the bills on the precipice of packing up for toronto doesnt designate buffalo as "nfl oblivion"- it desigantes buffalo as sports oblivion..period!...and even when they were on the precipice of a title...you got the Norwood kick, the in the crease stanley cup goal and back in 1970, unstoppable bob lanier and st bonaventure (about an hr., south of buffalo) going to the final 4...only to have lanier blow out his knee minutes before the end of the regional final vs. villanova, thereby sealing their fate as a final 4 loser ( to jacksonville) before the tipoff!

[HellYeahHokie]

Man. and I thought it sucked to be a Cleveland Sports fan.

[MasterBevo]

NFL QB talent requirements aren't as stringent as they used to be ? Give me the 'how's' and 'why's' of that, Bevo. I'm not dis-agreeing, just curious how you concluded that. Because of expansion ?

Oh, don't get me wrong, Hen. It's probably MORE difficult today to be a GOOD NFL QB. The speed of the game is much faster than in years past. The complexity is light years ahead of the time when Blanda literally drew plays in the dirt.

I think, the difficulty is because of 1) The impact of performance enhancing drugs, plus 2) the incredible money in the league.. thus year-round training, coaching, etc.... plus 3) Technology changes.. improved scouting/filming, instantaneous photos etc..

So.. maybe, to be fair, it just SEEMS like there aren't as many good QB's, cause it's just so damn hard to be one these days.

But... it just seems to me, that the level of QB play in the NFL in general has been way down in recent years. Maybe, it's because I watched Tavaris Jackson so much.. :eek: Or, Garcia, or Trent Edwards, or Brady Quinn, or Brodie Croyle, or Kyle Orton, or Sage Rosenfels, or Shaun Hill.. or, (Dare I say it? ) Vince Young?

There.. I just named NINE NFL QB's off the top of my head, that have been HORRIBLE! The standard in the NFL now seems to be, give me a guy that can make a throw now and then for a big 1st down... and, otherwise, just not lose the game for me... Or: Joe Flacco.

Maybe it is dilution due to expansion... maybe, it's the increase in complexity. Maybe, it's just a lull... as, we seem to have several good potentials coming from the college ranks in the next few years. I hope so. The game is more exciting when the QB is actually a threat to make a good play.