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saleintothe90s · 3 years

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427. Super Bowl 1991 Commercials (1/27/1991)

(I love that this carefree ad ran in the WE’RE AT WAR issue of my local paper, Daily Press, ten days before the Super Bowl):

I believe my mom would save the papers from the war, and send them to my dad who was out to sea at the time. That’s the only reason why we still have this copy that’s in my collection right now (I took this pic back in 2017 when I re-found it).

So, anyway, just like 30 years ago, Super Bowl 2021 is being held during an uncertain time in the country, and just like in 1991, advertisers were hesitant. Diet Pepsi pulled a “call this number for your chance at a million dollars” ad days before the game, citing “world events”, and the fear of “Disrupting our nation’s ability to communicate” 1:

New York Times on wartime Super Bowl coverage the following day:

Even the commercials were affected by events in the Gulf. In most Super Bowl telecasts, the messages are slick and expensive. This year's batch was somewhat toned down because of the war, most notably the ads of Coke and Pepsi, which abandoned ambitious promotions and made sure the viewer knew it. (And didn't Pepsi have to love that halftime shot of a soldier drinking its product while watching the game in Saudi Arabia?) 2

(source)

Before we get started, I have to mention Whitney Houston’s Star Spangled Banner from that year. Every Monday morning in elementary school, we had to stand for the Star Spangled Banner along with the Pledge of Allegiance. For weeks after the game, we always stood for the Whitney version. I always refer to this Super Bowl as the “Whitney Houston Super Bowl”.

Ok, now to the “subdued” (?) commercials, beginning here:

Look, I know that Jay from the Purple Stuff Podcast said he loved this commercial in the Super Bowl Commercials episode, but I think this Bugle Boy commercial with the GoGos is so lame. I mean, I’m going to say it, were the GoGos still relevant in 1991? Was Bugle Boy clothes still a thing in 1991?

Are picture-in picture TVs still a thing?!

Bud Bowl 3 with Bud Dry this year! I predict Bud Light will win this year.

At 4 minutes in, Advertising History happens. Yes, it’s the Ray Charles Diet Pepsi UH-HUH commercial! I was seven when this aired, so this was one of the first big commercial campaigns I really remembered. I have this strange memory of seeing a TV interview with the Uh-Huh girls (Meilani Paul, Darlene Dillinger and Gretchen Palmer) , and they said they were coming out with an album soon, and little me was like, “I’m going to buy that album”. It never came out.

Ray made an appearance on Pepsi cans in 2018. I never got my hands on the Ray can, I always got Britney or MJ when I got a pack of Diet Pepsi that Summer.

I’ve been meaning to watch the John Goodman critical flop King Ralph for months now.

Is wielding around a giant bottle opener legal at the Bud Bowl?

Part 2 starts with an upset at the Bud Bowl -- Bud Light hid the football in his label? what? So many questions with the commercials this year.

Peter Jennings updates us during the commercial break about the war. The Air Force was using smart bombs to disturb the oil flow into the Gulf, started by the Iraqis. It was 3am and quiet in Saudi Arabia.

Earlier, I mentioned that I was just a little kid when this was going on, and I don’t remember much. However, I do remember thinking “Iraq” was spelled “Arrack”, until I saw the word “Iraq” in a newspaper headline.

Peter will be back at halftime for another update. Yup, you heard me, no halftime show was broadcast that year. If you were at the stadium in Tampa that year you saw the show with the New Kids on the Block and an “all kids Super Bowl”, but if you were watching it on TV, you got the news, and maybe after the premiere of Davis Rules after the game, you saw the show, pretaped, but most people didn’t see the show. There’s a great video by Secret Base about the “worst halftime show ever”. Peter Jennings was “the Beyonce of 1991″. It looks like from Secret Base’s video that we didn’t miss anything. i mean a small bowl-cut haired boy sang “Wind Beneath My Wings”, which I’ve mentioned before, is the saddest song ever:

(that little kid has major hair roots)

The original World Football League only lasted two years. I found an early game on YouTube.

McDonalds thought that neon clad skiers could sell its steak sandwich with onions, mushrooms, and sauce that looks little McRib-y.

Here is a Harlem Globetrotter dancing with Miss Piggy.

Karl Malone had some jazzy LAGears. Did you know that there are some LAGears on the Payless Shoes website?

I have more questions, what is that popping out of that Panasonic TV? A remote control? Way back in the beginning of this website, I asked another question about a Panasonic Commercial that aired this evening.

Bud Bowl update at the end of part 2:

Part 3

Oh, give me a break with this elementary school garbage, Hertz. This is the Super Bowl.

All the goodwill I gave the Ray Charles Diet Pepsi commercial is out the door after hearing Jerry Lewis sing murder the song.

A 40 oz of Budweiser crushed and murdered some Bud Light bottles. Game’s tied.

Part 4

~the new Panasonic portable laptop word processor~ Nope, this wasn’t a computer, it just handled word processing.

Eriq La Salle played an olympian in a Budweiser commercial. ~America~

Ok, Boomer. But seriously, l’m 37, and I still want Reebok Pumps.

Diet Coke dumped their Leslie Nielsen commercial, and instead ran a commercial stating why they didn’t feel right airing it? I don’t think this commercial would hurt anybody’s feelings or offend anybody, Diet Coke. In 1994, The New York Times mentioned it as an ad fail:

In 1991 the Persian Gulf War overshadowed the cola wars, forcing Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola to reassess plans to promote contests with humorous commercials.

Coca-Cola went ahead with its contest, but replaced its silly spots, starring Leslie Nielsen as a bumbling police detective, with serious spots, including one announcing a $1 million donation to the U.S.O. There have been few more surreal moments in advertising history than when a somber-voiced announcer in a no-frills Diet Coke commercial asked consumers to play the "Crack the Code for Real Refreshment" game.

Pepsi, by contrast, scrapped its contest but stuck with its funny commercials, featuring Ray Charles warbling "You got the right one baby, uh-huh!" for Diet Pepsi. The result: Diet Pepsi trounced Diet Coke -- and Coca-Cola has yet to return to the Super Bowl. 3

A sense of relief washed over me when I saw my bbys, Jon Lovitz and Dana Carvey in an American Express commercial.

Jon couldn’t shop at Needless Markup.

Budweiser is cheating again.

(part 5)

Bud Light won fair and square!

1. “Pepsi Promotion Fizzles Out.” Broadcasting, January 28, 1991. 26. https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1991/BC-1991-01-28.pdf

2. Lapointe, Joe. “SUPER BOWL XXV: TELEVISION; ABC’s Coverage Stays in Perspective.” The New York Times, January 28, 1991, sec. Sports. https://www.nytimes.com/1991/01/28/sports/super-bowl-xxv-television-abc-s-coverage-stays-in-perspective.html.

3. Elliott, Stuart. “Super Triumphs and Super Flops.” The New York Times, January 30, 1994, sec. Business. https://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/30/business/super-triumphs-and-super-flops.html.

#super bowl #superbowl #1991 #persian gulf war #operation desert storm #peter jennings #old commercials #diet coke #diet pepsi #ray charles #randy quaid #bud bowl #jon lovitz #dana carvey #eriq la salle #america

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shytiff · 3 years

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June Small Wins

1 - ecmocard meeting with ppl from aussie to learn to sort out data. Felt better after the meeting cause i didnt feel like doing anything before. Got two season deli box cake from dapur cokelat for nessa. Videocalled w her and ren.

2 - dr eva chatted and gave things to do. I also need to make intern log for dr retha. I just cant bring myself to start. Finally mustered the courage. Im not the type of person for wfh. At least in this house. Finished reading love or hate. I rly felt like shit at night.

3 - started reading positively yours. Had no will to do anything

4 - some more sending spss work for dr eva. weekdays with no “outside work” rly render me useless in functioning. a vegetable

5 - iluni webinar. Lost my attention during electrolyte and fluid stuff. tried to cook ribeye steak lmao (meat from @/fridaymeatshop). Its too chewy and leathery. But its not too welldone. And at least it tastes good. Went to depok by krl. its quite quick since krl arrived just after im at poris and duri. went ahead of silvi devi. satpam on the lobby wont open the access hhhh (i dont have one. i dunno why. mom said she cant find it although we supposedly have 2). but my mood improved once im upstairs. we prepped a bit of deco. conversed in the dark so not to make racheel suspicious. surprisee. had truffle belly chicken cheese for dinner. the cheese was not to cheesy, its more of a gentle taste. mushroom tastes better. we watched sweet and sour from my mobile data. surprisingly, its not that much of data. slept at like 12-1ish

6 - the electric token went out in the morning. we went for a walk in ui. the PLK man across of st ui forbade us from going in. ugh. but it was rly empty. so we went from barel. its empty on the library. there was a dog that walked along with us. talked a bit in front of the lake. went back. i got 2 moon chicken (the basic flavor and not the wings) and spicy jumeokbap. the jumeokbap was nothing like what i had in korea. like the seaweed’s taste doesnt come out that much, and its not that flavorful/savory. the one in korea its good even by itself. went back to jkt nebeng reza silvi with devi. originally planned to go to flavola, but my head kinda hurts, so i finished my moon chicken at the mushola and asked juan to pick me up. still feel healthy and normal after going and staying out, so i started reading a book abt handwriting analysis lmaoo. fell asleep. tried several attempts to figure out my bpjs number and turns out the best there is to respond is BPJS’ twitter. the problem was solved under 5 mins.

7 - woke up, fell asleep again. Adita told me that i might be interviewed today for the ipd intern but theres no info. Did the registration stuff for my bpjs. Registered for npwp. Watched bts x na pd

8 - off to RSF. its audit day today. hiks to phonecall follow up work. i did not do anything inaco related, i just sat there and did dr dafsah’s excel. dr vera bought me pecel ayam hehe yay. went to como park to meet up with indah regen. tried ricotta pizza from pizza place (33k). the cheese is cheese but not that typical cheesy (?) coupled with mushroom. i had to add sauce to withstand the last bites (still kinda full). tried other’s as well, pesto and mushroom. pesto had the most taste. while waiting for doggo to arrive, we bought gelato (S: 35k). apparently their special flavor was ricotta lmao. tried green tea (bitter, which i like) and peanut butter + caramel, which makes you feel thirsty. watched the doggos from the sidelines. after maghrib we went to 1/15. ordered ice mocha (50k). the chocolate taste stood out more. not gonna order again lol. the staff initially recommended pandan flavor. took grab to gbk station to go home.

9 - rsf. second audit day. i hate it here lmao. im not even paid for my time here. excused myself to eat. turns out mbak Ai bought hokben. i almost forgot thanking her since i felt hungry with a bit of headache. talked a bit with dr retha regarding changes of assistant (since internship is soon). went back and immediately laid down in bed. mom bought pizza so thats what i ate for dinner. fell asleep (i can feel it. my face will get consequences)

10 - cant bring myself to do anything. i reread painter of the night lmao. seungho is a prick. inhun is also a prick (a greedy one). ate arirang bone marrow. put the egg-seasoning mixture to the pan since im not confident enough to just pour boiling water into the bowl. felt surprisingly full. went to sbux. green tea latte as usual. but turns out tumblr 50% promo only applies to sbux member. so i had to pay 40k for my green tea latte. at least i got to feel good from outside vibes. did some follow up for INACO patients.

11 - went to rm rsf. Took lots of photos of RM. I was given rujak by the rm staff lmaoo so cute. Didnt do any entry afterwards lmao i just laid down

12 - breakfast is paldo jjajangmen and egg. It tasted like soy. Its good but not in a micin way. Its quite fulfilling. Had some of the beef slices by putting it in a buttered pan (is it pan fried? Grilled? Idk). Had banana and brownies together (makes it rly good). Did a bit of clires work. I drank sbux's caramel macchiato but yall my stomach cant handle it lmao. It hurts so much that i even got a headache. So i just laid down in bed

13 - had arirang again loll. Inserted the egg to the pan still, but quicker this time. Its too salty today. Maybe its not enough water. I was eating it while googling how to remove excess sodium. Ate the rest of beef slices (shared with bros ofc) and mixed some with moms fried rice. Ate banana brownies again. Felt soooo full. Did some clires work accompanied by sbux matcha

14 - i felt like shit this morning. Watched leahs vid. Listened to her podcast while having bfast. I walked from moms car to bougenville while still feeling like shit. It slowly gets better afterwards, thankfully. Did some clires and follow up. Went to gandy steak in dr retha's car (which had anesthesiology textbook inside). Tried aus sirloin steak. The bread tasted ok. The garlic bread also ok. The mashed potato was so so (the one in depok was more creamy and smooth). The steak was good, especially the fat part, the sauce so so. Honestly that depok steak had more value for money compared to this, i think. Nebeng dr rara and husband to busway station. Arrived in ar and i immediately showered, such wow 👏👏

15 - today is no rsf day aka self made wfh day. Moms getting vaccinated today. I just lazed. And read kanej fics

16 - off to rsf. Took care of rm stuff. Tried social affair's croffle since i was so curious (60k [10k tip]). The nutella and cinnamon sugar one. Its crunchy and a bit crumbly inside, but not as fragile as croissant. Its quite fulfilling too. But its basically flour batter variations. (thats what mom would say). randomly chatted racheel and we ended up taking a walk and a bit of jog citra 6 (with my sneakon regular shoes). My left tendon was screaming lol. Picked up by juan who surprisingly effortlessly found the address at night.

17 - mbak aan chatted me today to go to rscm. Met prof murdani at pesc and he gave me ppt assigment for 13:30 THAT DAY. Finished it unsatisfyingly (i wish i couldve done more). Lunch was free bebek bkb yay thankyou Prof c: (he even asked what did i ate) took care of legalisir stuff. Went home by tj. Drank matcha w vsoy and i somehow was not sleepy after maghrib. I also changed my desj layout. Maybe it kinda works to separate my spaces

18 - arrived at rscm at 8-ish. sent updated thibbun nabawi ppt. literature search. and then somehow its 14:30. went to SCI w ara wani rasyid. tried bandeng nyonya, oyster, salmon, cumi lada garam (its crazy good among all the good tasting food wtff), shrimp and pocai telor (veggie stuff). dessert was thailand cassava. spent about 190k. went back by TJ. had wudu at pulomas and prayed ashar on the bus lol. i passed out after playing w my phone lmaoo

19 - spent almost the whole day just sleeping and eating. finally showered in the afternoon. had matcha vsoy latte after maghrib and with enough day sleeping, i did presentation outline. at like 1/2 am i initially planned to sleep but my eyes still have plenty of watts. so i read hold me tight. slept at like 4/5 am

20 - woke up at 9. off to om dokter’s house to ask for healthy letter. we talked almost the entire time im there lol. before u know it mom and dad’s done talking with grandma. om dokter shared some of his experiences in the past. and he said something about making your choice and living with it, and it will all have a meaning even if you might initially agonize about it. girl i was holding back tears. here he was talking about choices, something i never rly talk about at my house. im getting teary just typing this. he talked about it in a way that sounds simple, even though i agonized abt internship choices and sometimes avoid thinking about it. it rly rly was a new experience. i dont rly talk about “choices” with my parents. so hearing how to go through options in life from a person i can relate to regarding this med stuff is. i feel like i would have loved it if i can hear his wisdom earlier. i dont talk with him much if my parents are around bcs they will just meddle and say stuff that wreck my peace. they dont rly know what im going through but can be very opinionated. this peaceful one on one talk rly made me feel relieved and reassured. and i was today years old when i found out he initially wanted to be a psychiatrist. he would have been a great psychiatrist. i feel like we have some understanding thats left unsaid. like he knows how my parents are like. he would probably understand why i dont talk with him much at AR. after what feels super quick, we went back to AR. registered for STR. searched some literature for the topics that Prof is the moderator of. powered by matcha energy

21 - rscm as usual. the Prof did not come. lunch was bread i brought from home. waited for mom to pick me up at kfc so i bought pukis kfc. its like properly made pukis and not the street seller made ones. the chocolate one was good since the toppings generous. felt a bit feverish? like my body felt warm. fell asleep and then suddenly its 6 am in the morning.

22 - Prof still did not came. had amart’s ayam penyet jamur for lunch. turns out juan bought ayam geprek gendut for dinner. night time is diarrhea time lmaooooo. did not feel sleepy at AR but i skipped shower again lmao,,,,,,,, and then suddenly its morning again

23 - jajan from sisterfield today. tried their carrot cake and kopi susu gula aren. the carrot cake has that carrot texture. its different. the icing was fresh cream cheese that made the cake taste good. the coffee made my stomach ache a bit. it has that subtle chocolatey taste. fell asleep again. third time’s the charm (of 1x/day face wash). woke up at 3 am planning to sleep but i ended up washing my face. turns out atikah was still awake due to AZ fever.

24 - this is the bestest sleep i had in this week (?) had a dream about going to bandung and the car falling to water. forgot my headset today. can finally meet prof Mur. talked abt inaco stuff w agassi. reread komugi meruem lmaoo. felll asleep. somehow had the misfortune of hearing dad’s hurtful words to mom. i want to fall asleep again but its difficuly. i went through stages of pent up anger, some sort of selfishness (i will go out from jakarta for internship), amazement to mom, and... (continue 2moro)

25 - lunch was dori rice from kanprim thanks to rasyid’s jastip. watched bts’ butter norebang lolll :(((. arrived at AR the fastest ive been. mom came to me right before maghrib and summed some stuff dad said yesterday. she handled it in a trivial way. like she was unaffected. and that somehow helped me too. stuck around in the dining room for a while after maghrib. talked about internship w mom. i left some chance for dad to yap yap abt whatever related to internship (thankfully songs were full volume through my wireless headset) while im inhaling through my matcha latte. i wont write what he said bcs its lowkey super embarrassing. thank the gods for wireless speakers.

26 - did not do anything productive today. Had arirang salted egg for bfast (wont repurchase). Had the meat cubes i bought online and its rly good. Ran with racil at citra 6. The tendon in my left feet hurt lol. Gmeet with ara et al to discuss internship review

27 - lazed. Wanted to start my day early but couldnt bring myself to. Binge watched twoset videos. Did clires stuff. 1 more RM to wait from IRMIK. No gastro intern work this weekend aaaa im starting to panic.

28 - juan came along otw to rscm. Talked about iship otw. brought tons of stuff to eat, including matcha latte, but i was unable to finish it lol. Discussed research budgeting w Prof. Didnt do anything in home. Starting to panic with my ppt progress.

29 - discussed budgeting revision. Prof thought abt little details i didnt even consider. Didnt do anything while at ar anjengggg

30 - prof did not come to dept today. Listemed to agassi rambling abt intern stuff. Immediately opened my laptop in ar. Watched two set. Played marapets lmaooo i finally managed to gather 3 au for shop pricer. But still didnot wash my face 👁️👄🤦‍♀️ maybe bcs i hate doing what people tells me to do (re: shower due to covid scare). Had a nightmare abt being in a car ride alone w dad and it was rly rly awkward

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mytennisdiary · 3 years

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Australian Open 2021 - Day 2

Before coverage began Muguruza won her first round match in straight sets. As did Mertens who took out Layla Fernandez. Sophia Kenin won a closer straight set match against Inglis.

John McEnroe is on the broadcast today and he’s talking about how far the Australian Open has come. Of course, no one used to go and this used to be in part because it was played during the Christmas holiday. McEnroe wants this tournament to be played in March so there can be more of an offseason. There’s also a lot of talk about how good older players are, filtered through the lens of Brady’s Super Bowl win.

Cahill says that they’ve had football matches with full stadiums in Australia. They’re aiming to get to 50 - 75% capacity for the final if everything goes well. Another fact, the renamed court, “John Cain Court” is named for one of the men who was responsible for bringing the Australian Open to the complex where its located now. McEnroe considers this move to be the most important in the event’s history, playing a role in shifting the focus away from other tournaments and towards the majors as the high-water marks in tennis. McEnroe says that in his era, the focus on the majors was not the same.

My typical complaints with the broadcast were more obvious today. Too much time on Nadal and Gauff. Didn’t go to Barty’s match until she was already up 5-0 in the first set. Didn’t do the best job keeping track of the other matches as they went. Even flashing the score-bug more often would have helped.

First on the broadcast is Azarenka vs Pegula. Pegula is an American who I’ve seen before. Azarenka was one of the players who had to do a hard 14-day quarantine. After serving well all set, Azarenka double faulted 3 times while attempting to serve out the set. According to Goodall, this has been Azarenka’s achilles heel in her career. The double faulting lead to a lot more errors creeping in to what had otherwise been a clean set. Pegula, despite not being that big, has a nice offensive game. She hits a very flat ball and was able to take advantage of Azarenka’s lapse in play. Pegula served for the set and won the game on 4 unforced Azarenka Errors. Azarenka had breathing problems back in 2013 and something similar seems to have happened here. She used an inhaler between games, but then up 40 - 00 on her serve she leaded against the side barrier and they called out the doctor. Pegula pulled out the biggest upset of the women’s tournament so far, even if Azarenka was hampered by her injury.

Svitolina looks to be swinging freely against the young Czech player, Bouzkova. Nothing is ever easy with Svitolina, but it did feel ultimately that she was the one who was dictating the majority of the points, especially with her forehand. 6-3 7-6 in a 2 hour match.

Rublev took out Hanfmann in straight sets to continue his good play. Hanfmann played college tennis at USC. He’s 29, but has never won a match at a major. Rublev has the big forehand, but he’s also really improved his serve, bringing it up into the 130s. 6-3 6-3 6-4 in an hour and forty minutes.

Khachanov vs Vukic was played on an outer court. Gilbert calls Kharchanov “Silent K”. He hasn’t been playing at a high level over the last year.

Gauff vs Teichmann. They just played a tight match the week before. Coco has not been great over the last year since she beat Osaka at the Australian Open. She continues to have problems with her serve when attempting to close out matches. She can also have problems with her forehand which is the wing that tends to break down. Teichmann is a Swiss lefty who broke through at Lexington last year. She has some aggressive, flat groundstrokes. Both players were serving well until Teichmann’s serve broke down entirely. Coco had a shaky service game after going up a break, but then hit 3 aces in the next game to close out the set. Probably the best I’ve seen Coco look in a while. When the problems with her serve started to emerge she was able to move past them. However, a lot of this match was about Teichmann who just looked really uncomfortable, making a lot of errors, A funny moment in the post-match interview when Coco said it was important to not look ahead, but then admitted that she knew she’d be playing Svitolina in the next round.

Next up on Laver is Nadal vs Djere. The big story with Rafa is that he is dealing with some back problems. Djere is a clay-courter. McEnroe says that Rafa’s team has been trying to get him to train less for years, saying that he over-trains. His injury occurred in training. McEnroe thinks the major thing that the back could effect is the serve and how much power he can get on it. Nadal is pounding his groundstrokes. His serve seems a little more conservative than usual. Rafa does seem a bit tentative, not running down every ball. The first set was closer than you probably would have expected it to be. Djere has been able to stay in it, doing some particular damage with his forehand. The commentators told a story about how he lost both his parents to cancer within a few years of each other when he was younger. Nadal just doesn’t seem to be in control of every point like he usually is; not smothering the life out of the match. After working hard to get the second set, Nadal rolled in the third. 6-3 6-4 6-1

Medvedev is rolling against Pospisil. Probably won’t see much of it because of the Nadal match. He won in straight sets. 6-2 6-2 6-4

Li vs Lopez showcases Tu Li, an unranked australian wild-card who’s been away from the game for about 6 years. He actually coaches Darren Cahill’s kids. Lopez won the match. He hasn’t missed a major since 2002.

Albot vs Bautista-Agut got a little play in the 4th set tiebreak. RBA hasn’t been great this last season, but he’s normally very consistent. Albot is the only player from Moldova to play in a major. Albot just seemed to have more control of the match, RBA out of sorts. 6-7 6-0 6-4 7-6

Popyrin took out Goffin in a 5-set upset.

De Minaur vs Sandgren Gilbert calls him “the little demon”. De Minaur looked strong on his serve, but Sandgren looked totally out of it. He’s one of the ones that had to hard-quarantine for 14 days. De Minaur stands way up on the baseline, even on first serve returns, to try to take time away from his opponents. A little drama in the final few games. Sandgren his De Minaur with a ball and then De Minaur returned the favor on Match point. He hit him hard. 7-5 6-1 6-1

Mmoh vs Troicki Mmoh is a young American against Troicki, a veteran Serbian. Troicki has been on tour for a long time, but he’s trying to rebuild his ranking after testing positive for performance enhancing drugs. He played a strong tiebreak in the 2nd to level the match. Mmoh has been unable to stay healthy in his career. Mmoh has a big serve and an extreme western grip on his forehand. Troicki is having real problems with his forehand, ultimately making too many errors down the stretch to send the match to a 5th set.

Paul vs Basilashvili Tommy Paul looks like he’s going to win with his big serve in 3 sets.

Evans vs Norrie in a battle of the brits. Saw Norrie looking convincing despite being the lower seed, winning the first set. Evans got the 2nd. Norrie won in 4.

Pliskova beat Paolini in straight sets.

Collins vs Bogdan. Bogdan is a Romanian. Collins looks aggressive. Controlling the points. 6-3 6-1

Stevens vs Putinseva Putintseva is from Kazakstan. Both players were ones that had to do the 14-day hard quarantine. Putintseva had a mouse in her hotel room and couldn’t get anyone to come get rid of it. Apparently she fed it and bonded with it. Putintseva looks a bit more aggressive, but she’s been making a bunch of errors. Gilbert talked about Sloan and her footwork not being very good when she is in the center of the court.

Barty vs Kovinic Kovinic is ranked 575 in the world. She’s from Montenegro. Barty was up 5-0 in the first when we joined the broadcast. Kovinic has a big serve, but Barty has her totally off balance. Her slice backhand is staying really low and hew movement looks sharp. She played a 19-minute first set and is blitzing towards the finish. 6-0 6-0 in 45 minutes.

Tsitsipas vs Simon is the last match of the day on Laver. Simon moves well, but Tsitsipas looks totally in control early. Serve is imposing and he is patiently constructing points and executing well. I love the way Tsitsipas closes down space. He’s on top of the court, taking the ball early, and looking to come in and shorten points. Tsitsipas was just totally dominant. 6-1 6-2 6-1 Tsitsipas was pretty frank about how easy it was in the post-match interviews. Some laughs with the crowd about the lack of deference to Gilles.

Rodgers and Kokinakis through in straight sets.

Berrettini vs Anderson Anderson just gave away the 2nd set on his serve at 5-6 with careless errors. The australian commentator refers to it as “no wriggle room”. That might be even better than “wiggle room”. Very strong serving from Mateo. No breaks against his serve. 7-6 7-5 6-3

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day0one · 4 years

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How Trump Killed Tens of Thousands of Americans 3 hrs ago

On July 17, President Donald Trump sat for a Fox News interview at the White House. At the time, nearly 140,000 Americans were dead from the novel coronavirus. The interviewer, Chris Wallace, showed Trump a video clip in which Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, warned of a difficult fall and winter ahead. Trump dismissed the warning. He scoffed that experts had misjudged the virus all along. “Everybody thought this summer it would go away,” said Trump. “They used to say the heat, the heat was good for it and it really knocks it out, remember? So they got that one wrong.”

Trump’s account was completely backward. Redfield and other U.S. public health officials had never promised that heat would knock out the virus. In fact, they had cautioned against that assumption. The person who had held out the false promise of a warm-weather reprieve, again and again, was Trump. And he hadn’t gotten the idea from any of his medical advisers. He had gotten it from Xi Jinping, the president of China, in a phone call in February.

The phone call, the talking points Trump picked up from it, and his subsequent attempts to cover up his alliance with Xi are part of deep betrayal. The story the president now tells—that he “built the greatest economy in history,” that China blindsided him by unleashing the virus, and that Trump saved millions of lives by mobilizing America to defeat it—is a lie. Trump collaborated with Xi, concealed the threat, impeded the U.S. government’s response, silenced those who sought to warn the public, and pushed states to take risks that escalated the tragedy. He’s personally responsible for tens of thousands of deaths.

This isn’t speculation. All the evidence is in the public record. But the truth, unlike Trump’s false narrative, is scattered in different places. It’s in emails, leaks, interviews, hearings, scientific reports, and the president’s stray remarks. This article puts those fragments together. It documents Trump’s interference or negligence in every stage of the government’s failure: preparation, mobilization, public communication, testing, mitigation, and reopening.

Trump has always been malignant and incompetent. As president, he has coasted on economic growth, narrowly averted crises of his own making, and corrupted the government in ways that many Americans could ignore. But in the pandemic, his vices—venality, dishonesty, self-absorption, dereliction, heedlessness—turned deadly. They produced lies, misjudgments, and destructive interventions that multiplied the carnage. The coronavirus debacle isn’t, as Trump protests, an “artificial problem” that spoiled his presidency. It’s the fulfillment of everything he is.

Trump never prepared for a pandemic. For years, he had multiple warnings—briefings, reports, simulations, intelligence assessments—that a crisis such as this one was likely and that the government wasn’t ready for it. In April, he admitted that he was informed of the risks: “I always knew that pandemics are one of the worst things that could happen.” But when the virus arrived, the federal government was still ill-equipped to deal with it. According to Trump, “We had no ventilators. We had no testing. We had nothing.”

That’s an exaggeration. But it’s true that the stockpile of pandemic supplies was depleted and that the government’s system for producing virus tests wasn’t designed for such heavy demand. So why, for the first three years of his presidency, did Trump do nothing about it? He often brags that he spent $2 trillion to beef up the military. But he squeezed the budget for pandemics, disbanded the federal team in charge of protecting the country from biological threats, and stripped down the Beijing office of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Trump has been asked several times to explain these decisions. He has given two answers. One is that he wanted to save money. “Some of the people we cut, they haven’t been used for many, many years,” he said in February. “If we have a need, we can get them very quickly. … I’m a businessperson. I don’t like having thousands of people around when you don’t need them.”

His second answer is that he had other priorities. In March, at a Fox News town hall, Bret Baier asked Trump why he hadn’t updated the test production system. “I’m thinking about a lot of other things, too, like trade,” Trump replied. “I’m not thinking about this.” In May, ABC’s David Muir asked him, “What did you do when you became president to restock those cupboards that you say were bare?” Trump gave the same answer: “I have a lot of things going on.”

Trump prepared for war, not for a virus. He wagered that if a pandemic broke out, he could pull together the resources to contain it quickly. He was wrong. But that was just the first of many mistakes.

In early January, Trump was warned about a deadly new virus in China. He was also told that the Chinese government was understating the outbreak. (See this timeline for a detailed chronology of what Trump knew and when he knew it.) This was inconvenient because Trump was about to sign a lucrative trade deal with Beijing. “We have a great relationship with China right now, so I don’t want to speak badly of anyone,” Trump told Laura Ingraham in a Fox News interview on Jan. 10. He added that he was looking forward to a second deal with Xi. When Ingraham asked about China’s violations of human rights, Trump begged off. “I’m riding a fine line because we’re making … great trade deals,” he pleaded.

Trump signed the deal on Jan. 15. He lauded Xi and said previous American presidents, not Xi, were at fault for past troubles between the two countries. Three days later, Alex Azar, Trump’s secretary of health and human services, phoned him with an update on the spread of the novel coronavirus. On Jan. 21, the CDC announced the first infection in the United States. Two of the government’s top health officials—Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Nancy Messonnier, the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases—said the virus was beginning to circulate around the world.

Trump would later claim that he saw from the outset how grim the situation was. That was clear, he recalled, in the “initial numbers coming out from China.” But at the time, he told Americans everything was fine. “We’re in great shape,” he assured Maria Bartiromo in a Fox Business interview on Jan. 22. “China’s in good shape, too.” He preferred to talk about trade instead. “The China deal is amazing, and we’ll be starting Phase Two very soon,” he said. On CNBC, Joe Kernen asked Trump whether there were any “worries about a pandemic.” “No, not at all,” the president replied. “We have it totally under control.” When Kernen asked whether the Chinese were telling the whole truth about the virus, Trump said they were. “I have a great relationship with President Xi,” he boasted. “We just signed probably the biggest deal ever made.”

The crisis in China grew. In late January, Trump’s medical advisers agreed with his national security team that he should suspend travel from China to the United States. But Trump resisted. He had spent months cultivating a relationship with Xi and securing the trade deal. He was counting on China to buy American goods and boost the U.S. economy, thereby helping him win reelection. He had said this to Xi explicitly, in a conversation witnessed by then-National Security Adviser John Bolton. Trump also worried that a travel ban would scare the stock market. But by the end of the month, airlines were halting flights to China anyway. On Jan. 31, Trump gave in.

His advisers knew the ban would only buy time. They wanted to use that time to fortify America. But Trump had no such plans. On Feb. 1, he recorded a Super Bowl interview with Sean Hannity. Hannity pointed out that the number of known infections in the United States had risen to eight, and he asked Trump whether he was worried. The president brushed him off. “We pretty much shut it down coming in from China,” said Trump. That was false: Thanks to loopholes in the ban, the coronavirus strain that would engulf Washington state arrived from China about two weeks later. But at the time of the interview, the ban hadn’t even taken effect. The important thing, to Trump, was that he had announced the ban. He was less interested in solving the problem than in looking as though he had solved it. And in the weeks to come, he would argue that the ban had made other protective measures unnecessary.

There were three logical steps to consider after suspending travel from China. The first was suspending travel from Europe. By Jan. 21, Trump’s advisers knew the virus was in France. By Jan. 31, they knew it had reached Italy, Germany, Finland, and the United Kingdom. From conversations with European governments, they also knew that these governments, apart from Italy, weren’t going to block travel from China. And they were directly informed that the flow of passengers from Europe to the United States far exceeded the normal flow of passengers from China to the United States. Trump’s deputy national security adviser, Matthew Pottinger, pleaded for a ban on travel from Europe, but other advisers said this would hurt the economy in an election year. Trump, persuaded by Pottinger’s opponents, refused to go along.

Not until March 11, six weeks after blocking travel from China, did Trump take similar action against Europe. In a televised address, he acknowledged that travelers from Europe had brought the disease to America. Two months later, based on genetic and epidemiological analyses, the CDC would confirm that Trump’s action had come too late because people arriving from Europe—nearly 2 million of them in February, hundreds of whom were infected—had already accelerated the spread of the virus in the United States.

The second step was to gear up production of masks, ventilators, and other medical supplies. In early February, trade adviser Peter Navarro, biomedical research director Rick Bright, and other officials warned of impending shortages of these supplies. Azar would later claim that during this time, everyone in the administration was pleading for more equipment. But when Azar requested $4 billion to stock up, the White House refused. Trump dismissed the outcry for masks and ridiculed Democrats for “forcing money” on him to buy supplies. “They say, ‘Oh, he should do more,’ ” the president scoffed in an interview on Feb. 28. “There’s nothing more you can do.”

The third and most important step was to test the population to see whether the virus was spreading domestically. That was the policy of South Korea, the global leader in case detection. Like the United States, South Korea had identified its first case on Jan. 20. But from there, the two countries diverged. By Feb. 3 South Korea had expanded its testing program, and by Feb. 27 it was checking samples from more than 10,000 people a day. The U.S. program, hampered by malfunctions and bureaucratic conflict, was nowhere near that. By mid-February, it was testing only about 100 samples a day. As a result, few infections were being detected.

Fauci saw this as a grave vulnerability. From Feb. 14 to March 11, he warned in a dozen hearings, forums, and interviews that the virus might be spreading “under the radar.” But Trump wasn’t interested. He liked having a low infection count—he bragged about it at rallies—and he understood that the official count would stay low if people weren’t tested. Trump had been briefed on the testing situation since late January and knew test production was delayed. But he insisted that “anybody that wants a test can get a test” and that “the tests are all perfect.” Later, he brushed off the delay in test production and said it had been “quickly remedied.” He complained that additional tests, by exposing additional cases, made him “look bad.”

To keep the numbers low, Trump was willing to risk lives. He figured that infections didn’t count if they were offshore, so he tried to prevent infected Americans from setting foot on American soil. In mid-February, even as he refused to bar Europeans from entering the United States, he exploded in anger when more than a dozen infected Americans were allowed to return from Japan. “I hated to do it, statistically,” he told Hannity. “You know, is it going to look bad?” In March, he opposed a decision to let passengers off a cruise ship in California. “I’d rather have the people stay” offshore, he explained, “because I like the numbers being where they are. I don’t need to have the numbers double because of one ship.”

When the spread of the virus in the United States could no longer be denied, Trump called it the “invisible enemy.” But Trump had kept it invisible. The CDC would later acknowledge that due to woefully insufficient testing, the overwhelming majority of infections had gone undiagnosed. Models would show that by mid-February, there were hundreds of undetected infections in the United States for every known case. By the end of the month, there were thousands.

Trump didn’t just ignore warnings. He suppressed them. When Azar briefed him about the virus in January, Trump called him an “alarmist” and told him to stop panicking. When Navarro submitted a memo about the oncoming pandemic, Trump said he shouldn’t have put his words in writing. As the stock market rose in February, Trump discouraged aides from saying anything about the virus that might scare investors.

The president now casts himself as a victim of Chinese deception. In reality, he collaborated with Xi to deceive both the Chinese public and the American public. For weeks after he was briefed on the situation in China, including the fact that Beijing was downplaying the crisis, Trump continued to deny that the Chinese government was hiding anything. He implied that American experts had been welcomed in China and could vouch for Beijing’s information, which—as he would acknowledge months later—wasn’t true. On Twitter, Trump wrote tributes worthy of Chinese state propaganda. “Great discipline is taking place in China, as President Xi strongly leads what will be a very successful operation,” he proclaimed.

On Feb. 10, just before a rally in New Hampshire, Trump told Fox News host Trish Regan that the Chinese “have everything under control. … We’re working with them. You know, we just sent some of our best people over there.” Then Trump walked onstage and exploited the political payoff of his deal with Xi. “Last month, we signed a groundbreaking trade agreement with China that will defeat so many of our opponents,” he boasted. He told the crowd that he had spoken with Xi and that the virus situation would “work out fine.” “By April,” he explained, “in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away.”

Trump didn’t tell the crowd that he had heard this theory from Xi. But that’s what the record indicates. There’s no evidence of Trump peddling the warm-weather theory prior to Feb. 7, when he had an overnight phone call with Xi. Immediately after that call, Trump began to promote the idea. Later, he mentioned that Xi had said it. When Fauci, Messonnier, Azar, and Redfield were asked about the theory, they all said it was an unwise assumption, since the virus was new. The American president, against the judgment of his public health officials, was feeding American citizens a false assurance passed to him by the Chinese president.

Three days after the rally in New Hampshire, Trump defended China’s censorship of information about the virus. In a radio interview, Geraldo Rivera asked him, “Did the Chinese tell the truth about this?” Trump, in reply, suggested that he would have done what Xi had done. “I think they want to put the best face on it,” he said. “If you were running it … you wouldn’t want to run out to the world and go crazy and start saying whatever it is, ’cause you don’t want to create a panic.” Weeks later, Trump would also excuse Chinese disinformation about the virus, telling Fox News viewers that “every country does it.”

Trump envied Xi. He wished he could control what Americans heard and thought, the way Xi could control China’s government and media. But Trump didn’t have authoritarian powers, and some of his subordinates wouldn’t shut up. As the virus moved from country to country, Fauci, Redfield, and Azar began to acknowledge that it would soon overtake the United States. On Feb. 25, when Messonnier said Americans should prepare for school and workplace closures, the stock market plunged. Trump, in a rage, called Azar and threatened to fire Messonnier. The next day, the president seized control of the administration’s press briefings on the virus.

On Feb. 26, shortly before Trump held his first briefing, aides gave him bad news: The CDC had just confirmed the first U.S. infection that couldn’t be traced to foreign travel. That meant the virus was spreading undetected. But when Trump took the podium, he didn’t mention what he had just been told. Instead, he assured the public that infections in the United States were “going down, not up” and that the case count “within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero.” He predicted that America wouldn’t “ever be anywhere near” having to close schools or distribute more masks, since “our borders are very controlled.” When a reporter pointed out that the United States had tested fewer than 500 people, while South Korea had tested tens of thousands, Trump shot back, “We’re testing everybody that we need to test. And we’re finding very little problem.”

Trump’s eruption brought his subordinates into line. Shortly after the president’s angry call to Azar, Redfield told Congress that “our containment strategy has been quite successful.” At her next briefing, for the first time, Messonnier praised Trump by name. She parroted his talking points: that the United States had “acted incredibly quickly, before most other countries” and had “aggressively controlled our borders.” Azar, in testimony before the House, went further. When he was asked to explain the discord between Trump and his medical advisers, the health secretary argued that Americans, like citizens of China, needed to be soothed. The president, Azar explained, was “trying to calm” the populace because, as “we see in China, panic can be as big of an enemy as [the] virus.”

Having cowed his health officials, Trump next went after the press. He told Americans to ignore news reports about the virus. On Feb. 26 and Feb. 27, Trump denounced CNN and MSNBC for “panicking markets” by making the crisis “look as bad as possible.” He dismissed their reports as “fake” and tweeted, “USA in great shape!” At a rally in South Carolina on Feb. 28, he accused the press of “hysteria,” called criticism of his virus policies a “hoax,” and insisted that only 15 Americans were infected. Weeks later, he would tell the public not to believe U.S. media reports about Chinese propaganda, either.

In the three weeks after his Feb. 26 crackdown on his subordinates, Trump opposed or obstructed every response to the crisis. Doctors were pleading for virus tests and other equipment. Without enough tests to sample the population or screen people with symptoms, the virus was spreading invisibly. Fauci was desperate to accelerate the production and distribution of tests, but Trump said it wasn’t necessary. On a March 6 visit to the CDC, the president argued that instead of “going out and proactively looking to see where there’s a problem,” it was better to “find out those areas just by sitting back and waiting.” A proactive CDC testing program, lacking presidential support, never got off the ground. Nor did a separate national testing plan—organized by Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner—which was supposed to be presented for Trump’s approval but, for unknown reasons, was never announced.

Trump also refused to invoke the Defense Production Act, which could have accelerated the manufacture of masks, gloves, ventilators, and other emergency equipment. In January, HHS had begun to plan for use of the DPA, and in early February, some members of Congress suggested it might be needed. But Trump declined to use it until the end of March. When he was asked why, he said that governors, not the president, were responsible for emergency supplies and that telling “companies what to do” might upset the “business community.”

The president’s most decisive contribution to the death toll was his resistance to public health measures known as “mitigation”: social distancing, school and workplace closures, and cancellations of large gatherings. Messonnier and others had warned since early February that Americans needed to prepare for such measures. On Feb. 24, Trump’s health advisers decided it was time to act. But they couldn’t get a meeting with Trump, because he was off to India to discuss another trade deal. When he returned, he blew up at Messonnier for talking about closing schools and offices. The meeting to discuss mitigation was canceled.

Mitigation required leadership. The president needed to tell Americans that the crisis was urgent and that life had to change. Instead, he told them everything was fine. On March 2, he held another rally, this time in North Carolina. Before the rally, a TV interviewer asked him whether he was taking more precautions because of the virus. “Probably not so much,” Trump replied. “I just shook hands with a whole lot of people back there.” The next day, he said it was safe to travel across the country, since “there’s only one hot spot.” On March 5, at a Fox News town hall, he repeated, “I shake anybody’s hand now. I’m proud of it.” On March 6, visiting the CDC, he was asked about the risks of packing people together at rallies. “It doesn’t bother me at all,” he said.

As schools and businesses began to close, Trump pushed back. On March 4, he dismissed a question about further closures, insisting that only “a very small number” of Americans were infected. On March 9, he tweeted that the virus had hardly killed anyone and that even in bad flu seasons, “nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on.” Italy locked down its population, the NBA suspended its season, and states began to postpone elections. But through the middle of March, as advisers urged the president to endorse mitigation, he stood his ground. Finally, as the stock market continued to fall, Trump’s business friends agreed that it was time to yield. On March 16, he announced mitigation guidelines.

By then, the number of confirmed infections in the United States had surged past 4,000. But that was a fraction of the real number. The CDC would later calculate that in the three weeks from “late February to early March, the number of U.S. COVID-19 cases increased more than 1,000-fold.” And researchers at Columbia University would find that the final two-week delay in mitigation, from March 1 to March 15, had multiplied the U.S. death toll by a factor of six. By May 3, the price of that delay was more than 50,000 lives.

On March 23, a week after he announced the mitigation guidelines, Trump began pushing to rescind them. “We have to open our country,” he demanded. He batted away questions about the opinions of his medical advisers. “If it were up to the doctors, they may say, ‘Let’s keep it shut down,’ ” he shrugged. But “you can’t do that with a country, especially the No. 1 economy.” The next day, the stock market soared, and Trump took credit. Investors “see that we want to get our country open as soon as possible,” he crowed.

Trump fixated on the market and the election. In more than a dozen tweets, briefings, and interviews, he explicitly connected his chances of reelection to the speed at which schools and businesses reopened. (Trump focused on schools only after he was told that they were crucial to resuming commerce.) The longer it took, he warned, the better Democrats would do in the election. In April, he applauded states that opened early and hectored states that kept businesses closed. In June, he told workers in Maine, “You’re missing a lot of money.” “Why isn’t your governor opening up your state?” he asked them.

Trump pushed states to reopen businesses even where, under criteria laid out by his health officials, it wasn’t safe to do so. He called for “pressure” and endorsed lawsuits against governors who resisted. He issued an executive order to keep meat-processing plants open, despite thousands of infections among plant employees. He ordered the CDC to publish rules allowing churches to reopen, and he vowed to “override any governor” who kept them closed. In April, he made the CDC withdraw an indefinite ban on cruises, which had spread the virus. In July, he pressed the agency to loosen its guidelines for reopening schools.

He continued to suppress warnings. In April, he claimed that doctors who reported shortages of supplies were faking it. When an acting inspector general released a report that showed supplies were inadequate, Trump dismissed the report and replaced her. When a Navy captain wrote a letter seeking help for his infected crew, Trump endorsed the captain’s demotion. The letter “shows weakness,” he said. “We don’t want to have letter-writing campaigns where the fake news finds a letter or gets a leak.”

Having argued in March against testing, Trump now complained that doctors were testing too many people. He said tests, by revealing infections, made him “look bad.” When Fauci and Deborah Birx, the response coordinator for the White House Coronavirus Task Force, said more tests were needed, Trump openly contradicted them. In July, he claimed that 99 percent of coronavirus infections were “totally harmless”—which wasn’t true—and that the testing system, by detecting these infections, was “working too well.”

Fauci, Birx, Redfield, and other health officials pointed out that mitigation was working. They argued against premature resumption of in-person social activities, noting that the virus wasn’t under control and might roar back. Trump publicly overruled them, tried to discredit them, and pressured them to disavow their words. To block Fauci from disputing Trump’s assurances that the virus was “going away,” the White House barred him from doing most TV interviews. In June, when Fauci said resuming professional football would be risky, Trump rebuked him. “Informed Dr. Fauci this morning that he has nothing to do with NFL Football,” the president tweeted.

Trump interfered with every part of the government’s response. He told governors that testing for the virus was their job, not his. When they asked for help in getting supplies, he told them to “get ’em yourself.” He refused, out of pique, to speak to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi or to some governors whose states were overrun by the virus. He told Vice President Mike Pence not to speak to them, either. He refused to consult former presidents, calling them failures and saying he had nothing to learn from them.

Trump didn’t just get in the way. He made things worse. He demanded that Wisconsin hold elections in early April, which coincided with dozens of infections among voters and poll workers. (Some researchers later found correlations between infections and voting in that election; others didn’t.) He forced West Point to summon cadets, 15 of whom were infected, back to campus to attend his commencement speech in June. He suggested that the virus could be killed by injecting disinfectants. He persistently urged Americans to take hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug, despite research that found it was ineffective against the coronavirus and in some cases could be dangerous. Trump dismissed the research as “phony.”

The simplest way to control the virus was to wear face coverings. But instead of encouraging this precaution, Trump ridiculed masks. He said they could cause infections, and he applauded people who spurned them. Polls taken in late May, as the virus began to spread across the Sun Belt, indicated that Trump’s scorn was suppressing mask use. A Morning Consult survey found that the top predictor of non-use of masks, among dozens of factors tested, was support for Trump. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey found that people who seldom or never wore masks were 12 times more likely to support Trump than to support his opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden. Some scientific models imply that Trump’s suppression of mask use may have contributed to hundreds, if not thousands, of deaths.

On June 10, Trump announced that he would resume holding political rallies. He targeted four states: Florida, Texas, Arizona, and Oklahoma. The point of the rallies, he explained, wasn’t just to boost his campaign but to signal that it was time to “open up our country” and “get back to business.” When reporters raised the possibility that he might spread the virus by drawing crowds indoors, he accused them of “trying to Covid Shame us on our big Rallies.”

Despite being warned that infections in Oklahoma were surging, Trump proceeds with a rally at a Tulsa arena on June 20. To encourage social distance, the arena’s managers put “Do Not Sit Here” stickers on alternate seats. The Trump campaign removed the stickers. Trump also refused to wear a mask at the rally—few people in the crowd did, either—and in his speech, he bragged about continuing to shake children’s hands. Two weeks later, Tulsa broke its record for daily infections, and the city’s health director said the rally was partly to blame. Former presidential candidate Herman Cain attended the rally, tested positive for the virus days afterward, and died at the end of July.

At the rally, Trump complained that health care workers were finding too many infections by testing people for the virus. He said he had told “my people” to “slow the testing down, please.” Aides insisted that the president was joking. But on June 22, in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, he said he was only half-joking. He affirmed, this time seriously, that he had told “my people” that testing was largely frivolous and bad for America’s image. Weeks later, officials involved in negotiations on Capitol Hill disclosed that the administration, against the wishes of Senate Republicans, was trying to block funding for virus tests.

Two days after the Tulsa rally, an interviewer asked Trump whether he was putting lives at risk “by continuing to hold these indoor events.” Trump brushed off the question: “I’m not worried about it. No, not at all.” The next day, June 23, the president staged another largely mask-free rally, this time in a church in Arizona, where a statewide outbreak was underway. Days later, Secret Service agents and a speaker at the Arizona rally tested positive for the virus. On June 28, Trump urged people to attend another rally, this time featuring Pence, at a Dallas church where five choir and orchestra members had tested positive.

In his interview with Wallace, which aired July 19, Trump conceded nothing. He called Fauci an alarmist and repeated that the virus would “disappear.” He excoriated governors for “not allowing me to have rallies” and accused them of keeping businesses closed to hurt him in the election. He claimed that “masks cause problems” and said people should feel free not to wear them. He threatened to defund schools unless they resumed in-class instruction. As to the rising number of infections, Trump scoffed that “many of those cases shouldn’t even be cases,” since they would “heal automatically.” By testing so many people, he groused, health care workers were “creating trouble for the fake news to come along and say, ‘Oh, we have more cases.’ ”

Since that interview, Trump has attacked and belittled his medical advisers. He lashed out at Birx for acknowledging the ongoing spread of the virus. He retweeted a false claim that Fauci was suppressing hydroxychloroquine “to perpetuate Covid deaths to hurt Trump.” When Fauci told Congress that infections had increased due to insufficient mitigation, Trump rebuked him and blamed the surge on increased testing. And when Dave Portnoy, a wealthy Trump supporter, complained that his stocks tanked every time Fauci called for mitigation, Trump assured Portnoy that the doctor’s pleas would go nowhere. “He’d like to see [the economy] closed up for a couple of years,” Trump said of Fauci. “But that’s OK because I’m president. So I say, ‘I appreciate your opinion. Now somebody give me another opinion.’ ”

It’s hard to believe a president could be this callous and corrupt. It’s hard to believe one person could get so many things wrong or do so much damage. But that’s what happened. Trump knew we weren’t ready for a pandemic, but he didn’t prepare. He knew China was hiding the extent of the crisis, but he joined in the cover-up. He knew the virus was spreading in the United States, but he said it was vanishing. He knew we wouldn’t find it without more tests, but he said we didn’t need them. He delayed mitigation. He derided masks. He tried to silence anyone who told the truth. And in the face of multiple warnings, he pushed the country back open, reigniting the spread of the disease.

Now Trump asks us to reelect him. “We had the greatest economy in the history of the world,” he told Fox News on Wednesday. “Then we got hit with the plague from China.” But now, he promised, “We’re building it again.” In Trump’s story, the virus is a foreign intrusion, an unpleasant interlude, a stroke of bad luck. But when you stand back and look at the full extent of his role in the catastrophe, it’s amazing how lucky we were. For three years, we survived the most ruthless, reckless, dishonest president in American history. Then our luck ran out.

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mastcomm · 4 years

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Central Michigan’s Left Tackle Factory (Some Assembly Required)

MIAMI — Turning to his left and looking to make a play, Nick Mullens tried to flip a screen pass in a meaningless December game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Denver Broncos in 2018, only to have Shelby Harris, a defensive tackle for the Broncos, knock the pass off its trajectory.

As the ball hung in the air, Joe Staley saw his opportunity.

Staley, the longest-tenured player on the San Francisco 49ers and a six-time Pro Bowler at left tackle, knew exactly what to do in that situation: knock the ball down. But instead of doing the right thing, Staley snatched the ball, spun to his left and plowed forward — and was tackled for a 5-yard loss. He then rose to his feet and celebrated as if he had scored a game-winning touchdown.

“The correct thing to do is bat it down,” Staley acknowledged to reporters after the game. “But a lineman sees the ball in the air and you’re not not going to catch it, right? It’s like telling me, ‘Hey, there’s pizza here, but don’t have a slice.’”

The 49ers won that game, improving to 3-10, but Coach Kyle Shanahan suggested that Staley might be in line for a fine, adding that the play had revealed a certain character flaw in Staley, then 34.

“Joe refuses to fully believe he’s an O-lineman,” Shanahan said. “He’s always trying to show us how athletic he is.”

Of course, Staley, who will be protecting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo’s blind side against the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl on Sunday, was not always an offensive lineman. When he arrived at Central Michigan in 2004, he was a 230-pound tight end who had been a track star at Rockford High School in Michigan. And even after the Chippewas asked him to bulk up and play tackle — a process that saw Staley gain around 75 pounds — he retained much of his agility and burst.

“He still runs like it,” Garoppolo said when asked about Staley’s days as a track star. “Dude can fly and he’ll let you know about it, too.”

It is not all talk. At his pro day in 2007, Staley’s 20-yard split in the 40-yard dash was just 0.01 of a second slower than the one recorded by Kansas City’s Travis Kelce in 2013, and just 0.08 slower than the one recorded by San Francisco’s George Kittle in 2017, despite the 305-pound Staley’s outweighing both All-Pro tight ends by 50 pounds.

Staley argues he could still play tight end, but he doesn’t expect to have his number called anytime soon. “It wouldn’t be smart,” he said. “We have a pretty good one right now.”

When told about that comment, Kittle concurred.

“One-hundred percent,” he said. “I am holding Joe Staley back.”

Getting Big

Super Bowls are typically littered with tales of random connections, but few can match a parallel between this year’s teams: Both the 49ers and the Chiefs have starting left tackles who were first-round picks out of Central Michigan, and both gained more than 75 pounds in college to make that happen. It is just the second time in 54 Super Bowls that both starting left tackles came from the same college, a rarity made especially surprising since Kansas City’s Eric Fisher and San Francisco’s Staley are the only first-round picks in Central Michigan’s long history.

Staley came first, after being recruited as a tight end and then starring as a tackle. He put in countless hours with the team’s strength coach, Paul Longo, and that helped lead San Francisco to select him with the 28th pick in the 2007 draft. At the time, he was the highest draft pick in Central Michigan history.

A few years after Staley left campus, Fisher arrived as an unheralded left tackle who stood 6 feet 7 inches but weighed only 225 pounds. Fisher, who described Staley as an inspiration, bulked his way up to 306 pounds before the 2013 N.F.L. combine, and was rewarded for that effort when Kansas City selected him with the first overall pick in the draft — making him just the fifth offensive lineman in the draft’s 84-year history to receive that distinction.

Plas Presnell, who spent 31 years as an assistant coach, recruiter and football operations manager for Central Michigan’s football program, said it was no coincidence that Staley and Fisher had gone through such radical transformations during their years in Mount Pleasant. As a Mid-American Conference program that did not have the recruiting machines of college football’s heavy hitters, Central Michigan had to look for players who had the frame for a position, even if they were still lacking the necessary bulk.

“A lot of coaches want a finished product, a kid that’s close to 300 pounds in high school,” Presnell said. “So a guy like Joe would get passed up. Same thing with Eric. But you see the structure of their body, you watch them on film and see their athleticism, and you know what you can get.”

The methods by which the players bulked up, however, were different.

Staley described a painstaking approach to adding 25 pounds a year, which involved going to some extremes.

“I was waking myself up at like 2 in the morning having huge, huge weight-gainer shakes,” he said. Coach Brian Kelly, now at Notre Dame, gave Staley a simple mantra: “Eat everything you can.”

For Fisher, who arrived at college skinnier than many wide receivers, the change in size had more to do with access to Central Michigan’s meal plan than any sort of well-orchestrated effort.

“It was the first time in my life that I could eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted,” he said. “It was pretty nice.”

In a league that grapples with obesity problems, particularly among retired players, tales of young men making a concerted effort to gain the weight of a full-size punching bag opens up a larger question of what happens after they stop playing football.

Joe Thomas, a retired left tackle who starred for the Cleveland Browns, said he had added 70 pounds to his natural frame to compete at the pro level. The thing he had most looked forward to about retirement, he said, was the ability to eat only when he was hungry, and his transformation over the last two years could serve as something of a model for both Staley and Fisher after their playing days. He is more than 50 pounds lighter since leaving the N.F.L. after the 2017 season.

“I reversed everything I was doing,” Thomas said. “No more freezer pizzas before bed.”

While Fisher said he believed his weight had been added in a natural way and that he didn’t struggle to maintain it, Staley — the track star who once ran the 200 in 21.9 seconds — said that he still felt like a smaller man who had to endure food he didn’t love in order to maintain bulk.

“I love organic stuff, but I am an offensive lineman,” he said. “So if I were to eat completely healthy all the time, then I would not be an offensive lineman anymore.”

Dropping weight would undoubtedly be good for his palate, and for his long-term health, but he showed his cards a bit by adding that if he were to lose that weight, he could probably just play tight end instead.

Staley’s Time to Shine?

Staley and Fisher praised each other in interviews ahead of Sunday’s Super Bowl, and said they kept in touch thanks to their Central Michigan connection. The parallels between them have continued, as the remarkably durable players struggled with injuries this season, only to round back into Pro Bowl-worthy shape in time for the playoffs.

But in an evenly matched game between superb teams, any element of surprise could be the difference between a win or a loss — which inspired a question to San Francisco’s players about whether Staley, in a season that set a record for receiving touchdowns by 300-pound players, could contribute in the passing game if the 49ers needed him.

“Of course,” said Emmanuel Sanders, a veteran wide receiver. “You see his footwork? You see the way he moves?”

Nick Bosa, San Francisco’s star rookie at defensive end, offered Staley’s 40-yard dash time off the top of his head, and Garoppolo brought up Staley’s time in the 200, saying he would not be surprised by any of his left tackle’s athletic feats.

Garoppolo’s camera-ready smile took a brief recess, however, when he was asked if that meant he would be O.K. with having a play called for Staley, and he deadpanned, “I didn’t say that.”

But Presnell, who has known Staley for nearly 20 years, said the only thing missing was opportunity. Asked if Staley would catch a ball thrown his way, Presnell was emphatic.

“There is no doubt,” he said.

Ken Belson contributed reporting.

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lockcup5-blog · 5 years

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The Linc - NFL evaluators rank Eagles as worst playoff team

Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles links ...

Ultimate NFL playoff team rankings: The best on offense, defense and overall - ESPN 12) What could be better for the Eagles than sneaking into the playoffs with Nick Foles behind center (ribs permitting) and a bunch of league insiders ranking them last in the field? Earning a first-round bye with Carson Wentz would be much better, obviously. But, like Pederson was saying, just get into the tournament. The Eagles have done that, and now they’ll face another team known for its offensive trickery. ”You thought Halloween was in October, but this is trick or f---ing treat between Pederson and [Matt] Nagy,” a veteran evaluator said. “It’s two teams with quarterbacks who at times play at backup levels. Which misdirection screen, throwback pass or throw to the quarterback is going to be the difference?” An evaluator thought the Eagles missed their 2017 offensive coordinator [Reich] and quarterbacks coach [John DeFilippo]. But the Eagles are 4-1 with Foles in the lineup this season. That includes a 30-23 road victory over the Rams and a 32-30 home victory over Houston in the past three weeks. ”Their running game is not what it was and the secondary is a little scary, but their defense is good and their front four can be dominant,” an evaluator said.

Winners and losers from Eagles vs. Redskins (and Bears vs. Vikings) - BGN DOUG PEDERSON: The Eagles are 5-1 in their last six games and reasonably could’ve been 6-0 if the worst call of the season didn’t go against them in the Cowboys game. The entire team has really stepped things up ever since they got blown out by the Saints in Week 11. It’s time to put some respeck on Dougie P’s name.

At the Podium #17: We’re On to Chicago - BGN Radio Triple threat of press conferences on At the Podium #17! Double dose of Doug Pederson addressing injury updates, how the Eagles stack up against the Bears, etc etc PLUS Nick Foles talks about his record-tying performance in the Eagles 24-0 win over the Redskins. Powered by SB Nation and Bleeding Green Nation.

Nothing! - Iggles Blitz The Eagles facing Johnson and the Skins had me a little nervous. I remember the Eagles losing to Bruce Gradkowski when he was a rookie. We all remember losing to Joe Webb. There was a costly loss to John Skelton in 2011. You get the point. Just because the other QB is a scrub doesn’t mean he can’t beat the Eagles. Not on Sunday. The Eagles were bullies. They limited the Skins to 89 yards for the whole game. Zero third down conversions. Zero points. That was some beautiful defense. There was plenty of bad offense as well, but the Eagles did their job. When you face an inferior opponent, you want to dominate them. That’s what the Eagles did. They got pressure on Johnson. They shut down the run game. They tackled well in space. Nobody caught a short pass and turned it into a big gain. Didn’t happen.

Young Eagles fan on giving Nate Sudfeld back his football: ‘He’s the player. He earned it more.’ - Philly.com Cohen didn’t have to wait long for a replacement. At Agholor’s urging, a ball boy gave the young Eagles fan a different football almost immediately. Zechman said his phone instantly blew up with text messages after Sudfeld’s negotiation with Cohen for the football was broadcast on Fox and quickly went viral. “My phone is still buzzing,” Zechman said. “People are sending me videos from ESPN. It’s crazy.” Not only was Cohen given another official football from the game, Agholor signed the ball for the young fan, who hopes to have Sudfeld sign the football in the future. Cohen also left the game with one of Agholor’s gloves, which the wide receiver tossed over following his pregame warm-ups.

Playoff Week Opens With Taste Of The New Normal - PE.com Anyway, it’s only Monday. I know we all want Sunday to get here fast, but let’s sit back and think about the ways to beat the Bears. It won’t be easy. This is a good football team the Eagles are playing. Matt Nagy is an aggressive head coach with a young quarterback and the Bears are here to seize the moment. They’re not settling for “just being in the playoffs.” What we’ve got is a week ahead of us that is going to be fun and fascinating. The game plan is being put into place. As you usher in the New Year, 2019, be thankful for where we are, all of us. A season that looked like it was in danger of heading south, really south, turned around and the Eagles are alive. Does it matter that this football team, with so many veterans who have won in the postseason, is going on the road? Not in the least.

Week 17 NFL Team of the Week - PFF Interior Defensive Lineman. Fletcher Cox, Philadelphia Eagles – 93.2 overall grade. Cox was downright unblockable for the Eagles for much of the win over the Redskins, racking up eight total pressures from just 22 pass-rushing snaps. That included three sacks, and he also forced a fumble. The big performance capped a career year in terms of PFF grade for the former first-round draft pick out of Mississippi State.

Remembering the greatest football game Reuben Frank never saw - NBCSP Eagles owner Norman Braman holding a spur-of-the-moment press conference in a shower stall in the basement of Soldier Field was one of the stranger moments of a strange day. It was 30 years ago today, New Year’s Eve 1988 in Chicago, and I was in my first full season as Eagles beat writer for The Burlington County Times newspaper in South Jersey. The Eagles had won their first NFC East title since 1980 on the final day of the regular season, and that earned them the No. 3 seed in the old five-team playoff bracket, a first-round bye and a meeting with the top-seeded Bears at Soldier Field. There was so much drama involved, this being just three years after Buddy Ryan had been carried off the field at the Superdome after his defense helped the Bears win Super Bowl XX over the Patriots, 46-10. Now, he was the Eagles’ head coach, and to say there was no love lost between him and Bears head coach Mike Ditka would be putting it mildly. So this was personal.

Brad Biggs’ 10 thoughts on the Bears’ 24-10 win over the Vikings - Chicago Tribune “If Nick Foles doesn’t play, the game is a joke. Nate Sudfeld? Come on. I expect Foles will play. They’ll get him out there one way or another. They run a bunch of pick stuff and try to attack open windows but the Bears don’t play any real static defense so they will match everything. It will be interesting to see when they do play man if they put (Kyle) Fuller on (Alshon) Jeffery. I think Prince Amukamara might be a better matchup because he’s a little bit more physical. Golden Tate really hasn’t done a whole lot since he came over in the trade from the Lions. You can look at up but I think he’s had only one big game, Monday night (against the Redskins Dec. 3, seven catches, 85 yards, one touchdown), but those were mostly off-schedule plays. He’s still Golden Tate, I think he’s a really good player, but he’s not utilized nearly as much as he was in Detroit. (Nelson) Agholor is a smaller, speed guy. Really good route runner. He’s not physical at all. Foles will throw the ball to Jeffery much more than (Carson) Wentz and then it’s (Zach) Ertz. The Bears haven’t faced a tight end like him this season. If Foles has some magic left in him, maybe Philadelphia does something there. But the Bears have got a better team right now. They’ve got a much healthier team.”

Marino’s Mock Draft 4.0 - The Draft Network 21. Philadelphia Eagles. Yodny Cajuste, OT, West Virginia. Cajuste has exciting potential as a blindside protector in the NFL given his foot speed, anchor, length and power. Philadelphia is so multiple with its offensive scheme that it requires a foundation of mobility to execute, and Cajuste has the physical traits needed to fit. Philly would be well-served to once again tap into the West Virginia talent pipeline.

New York Giants’ quarterback question: What should the plan be? - Big Blue View But with some teams facing decisions around the league, the list of available quarterbacks is soon to grow. We know the Bortles Era is coming to a close in Jacksonville. Ryan Tannehill might soon be out in Miami. It seems that Joe Flacco is going to be available given the rise of Lamar Jackson. Then there’s a decision looming for the Philadelphia Eagles and their current backup quarterback, Nick Foles. Foles and the Eagles have a mutual option for the 2019 season, which would first be triggered by the team extending his contract for the sum of $20 million for the 2019 league year. Then it’s up to the quarterback, who can agree to stay with the team or decline it. If he decides to move on, he owes the organization $2 million, purchasing his rights to walk away. It is ... hard to imagine the Eagles paying $20 million for one year of Foles as a backup, so it’s likely he finds himself on the market, and he might be the most enticing free agent quarterback available. But there would likely be a number of teams inquiring as to his services, including Washington, Jacksonville, Miami and others. So there could be a bidding war for Foles.

Raiders interviewed Marc Ross, Trey Brown for G.M. role - PFT Also, ESPN.com’s Dan Graziano adds that former Eagles personnel man Trey Brown also interviewed for the post. Brown is currently working for the Birmingham team in the Alliance of American Football. Former Giants G.M. Jerry Reese turned down the opportunity to interview for the job.

This Redskins team wasn’t built for today’s NFL. It was built to fall apart. - Washington Post In Washington, a promising 6-3 start devolved into chaos and hopelessness. For the second straight season, injuries overwhelmed the team, with a league-high 24 players being placed on injured reserve. But bad luck wasn’t the only issue. The season exposed several holes on the roster even before the attrition, including a lack of speed on defense and very little explosiveness on offense. And then, in a series of typical but foolish decisions, the organization went into full Daniel Snyder-era dysfunction, starting with the controversial acquisition of troubled and freshly arrested linebacker Reuben Foster in late November and ending with the ouster of Brian Lafemina, the president of business operations and chief operating officer, along with three of his deputies after just eight months on the job. Between those bookend disasters, multiple players took their unhappiness to social media. And safety D.J. Swearinger Sr., the most prolific mouth in the locker room, managed to get kicked off the team last week for taking his criticisms too far and unloading on defensive coordinator Greg Manusky after a loss to Tennessee.

Final 2018 DVOA Ratings - Football Outsiders The Kansas City Chiefs finish the year on top of the Football Outsiders DVOA ratings, and rank among the best offenses we’ve ever tracked. On the flip side are the Arizona Cardinals, in distant last place as one of the worst offenses we’ve ever tracked. But there are also plenty of interesting stories in between.

Frank Reich has molded the Colts into the most dangerous team in the playoffs - Stampede Blue The beat writers have come forward and said specifically that this is a team where there aren’t any jerks. When you see them looking like they’re having a great time as they’re showboating after a turnover or celebrating a touchdown, it is real. They really do have the selfless group of guys in this locker room that actually genuinely like each other and love the game of football. That’s Frank Reich’s gift. That unity, that closeness, that buy-in to an idea that this team could be more than just a team in rebuild mode has taken hold. From day one he has professed belief in this team and in his process. His staff has guided, grown, and held accountable the young men that fill out this roster.

Todd Bowles has been fired by the Jets - Gang Green Nation The Jets got their Black Monday started on Sunday by relieving their coach of his duties just hours after a blowout loss in New England. Bowles is the second coaching casualty since the end of the regular season. Tampa Bay had just announced the dismissal of Dirk Koetter hours earlier. Bowles’ tenure started with a 10 win campaign in 2015, but it ended on a sour note as the Jets fell to the Bills on the final day of the season. The defeat cost the Jets a Playoff spot.

Every NFL playoff team’s fatal flaw - SB Nation Heading into Week 17, your defending Super Bowl champions were maybe the weakest team in the playoff field, ranking just 16th in FPI and 18th in DVOA. Thanks to a surprisingly weak NFC, they still got in, and good for them. Their stay probably won’t last very long. While Philly’s offense has regressed from eighth to 16th in offensive DVOA this year, the defense has been the primary issue, falling from fifth to 21st in defensive DVOA. The Eagles are strong in the red zone (seventh in points allowed per scoring opportunity), and they punish impatient quarterbacks with decent big-play prevention through the air. But that only matters so much when you have the worst defense in the league on standard downs; Philly is 31st in standard downs success rate allowed in open play (which means that strong red zone D is constantly tested) and 32nd in standard downs explosiveness allowed. That puts far too much pressure on a merely decent offense to keep up. “Don’t ever underestimate the heart of a champion” and all that, but unless Nick Foles has a lot more playoff magic to unveil, the Eagles’ title defense won’t last too long.

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flauntpage · 5 years

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Eagles Players Dispute Philly Voice Story Describing Carson Wentz as “Selfish” and “Uncompromising”

Joe Santoliquito, coming in hot on MLK Day.

The long-time local sports writer dropped a Philly Voice story this morning citing anonymous sources in describing Carson Wentz as a “selfish” and “uncompromising” player. Joe says Voice spoke with “more than a half dozen players, plus other sources close to the team” over the past two months.

I have been judged as the most pragmatic and reasonable Crossing Broad writer, therefore I’ve been assigned the reactionary piece to Joe’s piece.

Let’s go through the story and pull some excerpts to analyze.

Writes Joe:

Whereas some circles blamed the Eagles’ offensive failures on new offensive coordinator Mike Groh, numerous sources in and around the NFL and Eagles said they thought Wentz may have been the root of the Eagles’ offensive problems. Groh is a “good coach,” who was “bullied” by Wentz, according to sources. The problem with the offense this past season shouldn’t lie with Groh, it should “lie with Wentz,” they said.

Yeah? Well I could see that happening. Groh was a first-year offensive coordinator who worked with the wide receivers in 2017, so this was his first season directly interacting with Wentz. If Frank Reich and John DeFilippo were veteran coaches, you could understand how they might assert more control over a then-25-year-old quarterback. Joe touches on that a few paragraphs later.

One thing is certain: Every one of our sources said the same things almost verbatim about the relationship between Wentz and Nick Foles: “They love each other, they respect each other and they support each other.”

But while the sentiment in the Eagles’ locker room is that Foles is “universally loved,” Wentz isn’t.

I found it interesting that Chris Long and Fletcher Cox created that Nick Foles shrine. You could theorize that they love the dude because of the Super Bowl run last year, sure. It certainly seemed like the team had really positive things to say about Nick when he took over for Carson, but I don’t know if that equates to them disliking Carson. It’s not like being “pro-Nick” automatically means that you’re “anti-Carson.” You could simply enjoy playing with one guy more than the other guy while enjoying both as people and players.

More after the jump:

Numerous sources confirmed Wentz was once verbally attacked by a highly respected teammate for not being “a team guy.”

“Carson Wentz’s biggest enemy is Carson Wentz,” one source said. “He’s had his ass kissed his whole life, and sometimes acts like he’s won 10 Super Bowls, when he hasn’t played in, let alone won, a playoff game yet. Everyone around him wants good things for him. He did more thinking on the field than he did playing (in 2018). You don’t have to be a brain surgeon or a football expert to see how differently this team plays and reacts with one guy as opposed to the other.”

I can see the reasoning here. Wentz has been a #1 guy his entire life. He didn’t have to sit behind another quarterback as a rookie. Sam Bradford was shipped out to allow Carson to be a starter in his first NFL year. And it’s certainly true that it’s a different team with Nick in the game.

According to multiple sources, Wentz tended to “complicate” the offense. He didn’t let it come organically, as Foles did. According to one source, Wentz could “complicate 2+2.”

Reich and DeFilippo stressed to Wentz the importance of sticking with the play that was called — a completed pass was there waiting. When Wentz deviated from that, it was sometimes met with bad consequences, like an interception or a sack. When Wentz trusted what Reich and DeFilippo called, it led to an MVP-like season that produced an Eagles’ single-season franchise record 33 touchdown passes and an 11-2 record in 13 games.

This can never really be proven because there are too many variables, but you could certainly go through every down he’s ever played and look for pre-snap reads and audibles. You can look for instances where he pulled the ball out during RPOs. You could look at the amount of times he tried to force the ball to one receiver and you could time how long he held onto the ball.

I think it was pretty apparent that Foles was smoother at going through his reads and taking what the defense gave him. Lane Johnson said himself that the ball was coming out quicker with Nick playing QB.

Wentz’s proclivity for playing “favorites” manifested itself in targeting Ertz, who went on to catch a single-season NFL-record 116 passes for a tight end. Over the 11 games Wentz played, he went to Ertz 106 times (an average of 9.6 targets per game), while Alshon Jeffery was targeted 74 times (7.4 targets per game) and Nelson Agholor 60 times (5.4 targets per game). Sources added, without any great revelation, that Jordan Matthews is an Eagle because “of his buddy Wentz.”

I did a story on this. The results showed that Wentz threw to Alshon Jeffery more often than Foles did. I think we all kind of concluded that Nick was more willing to target Alshon on contested downfield and/or jump ball type of passes, because he trusted him to go up and make those plays while perhaps Carson did not.

But Nick Foles still threw at Ertz frequently.

Here are those numbers:

That’s 65 total targets over 7 games, so 9.2 targets per game. That’s a difference of 0.4 in how much each quarterback targeted Zach Ertz this season. You’d have to go through film and look at distances and air yards and see how each QB specifically used the #1 tight end.

The subjects interviewed for this story gave the impression that Wentz changed after his injury. With Foles more than likely gone next season and nothing but open space ahead to rehab and spend a full training camp as QB1, there seems to be a good chance he’ll be his dynamic self again — both on the gridiron and with his teammates.

“He has to return to who ‘Carson Wentz’ is,” a source told PhillyVoice. “That comes with relaxing and not forcing things. It also comes with being able to take constructive criticism. He has to learn that it’s not always about him and that’s partly what hurt this team this year. We know what type of player he can be, and who he normally is. He needs to realize it’s the Philadelphia Eagles not the Philadelphia Carsons.

Sure.

I can’t imagine tearing my ACL and then watching another guy go on and win the Super Bowl. Of course you’re frustrated. Of course you want to work your ass off to get back to full health, get back on the field, and prove that you can do what your backup did. That’s natural competitive DNA that should exist in pretty much every single player. Stefen Wisniewski, another devout Christian guy, was unhappy and complained when he got benched earlier this season.

For what it’s worth, and this might be burying the lede, but several Eagles came out on social media to dispute the allegations made by the anonymous sources:

Reading through this Carson Wentz thing and as a leader on this team none of that is true Carson is a great teammate and great player we are all behind him 100% he’s our guy and will come back and prove the world wrong. If you got a problem feel free to @ me I’ll respond

— fletcher cox (@fcoxx_91) January 21, 2019

And Brandon Brooks:

What my guy @fcoxx_91 said!!! pic.twitter.com/DpRr39ZcEI

— Brandon Brooks (@bbrooks_79) January 21, 2019

And now Lane Johnson:

Whoever wrote that article needs to check their "sources". #fakenews

Carson has been and is our leader and our QB. Y'all know where to find me if you have any issues.#flyeaglesfly

— Lane Johnson (@LaneJohnson65) January 21, 2019

And regarding Joe specifically, he’s a freelancer who writes for several different outlets. He publishes things for Voice and for CBS 3 as well, and he used to come in and do the Sports Zone show that I produced on Sunday night. He dabbles in different sports and could probably be described as a jack of all trades.

Some people went back and pulled some previous things he said/wrote about Wentz to see if there were any conclusions to draw, any particular “bias” towards one guy over the other.

Here are some findings via “Patrick” on Twitter:

Relevant context: The author from today’s bombshell report on Wentz has had some… strong opinions on Wentz in the past. pic.twitter.com/ZlFPVIH7NJ

— Patrick (@pmc1423) January 21, 2019

Right, so you can reach your own conclusions with this story. Go read the Voice piece and see how you feel. I’m sure we’ll get a few more responses from teammates.

The post Eagles Players Dispute Philly Voice Story Describing Carson Wentz as “Selfish” and “Uncompromising” appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Eagles Players Dispute Philly Voice Story Describing Carson Wentz as “Selfish” and “Uncompromising” published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

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ultrasfcb-blog · 6 years

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England

Emotional scenes as England players react to semi-final defeat

Gareth Southgate was in a reflective mood as he prepared to bring England’s momentous World Cup campaign to a close.

As he prepared for Saturday’s third-place play-off against Belgium in St Petersburg, the manager looked back on the run to England’s first World Cup semi-final in 28 years – and ahead to the future for his emerging side.

So what will England and Southgate take away from Russia?

England’s reputation restored

England will return home to widespread acclaim for reaching the last four. They were 22 minutes from their first World Cup final since 1966, until Croatia came back from a goal down to win 2-1 in extra time on Wednesday.

In the past, other nations have been mystified by England’s sense of self-importance at major tournaments – given it has so rarely been matched by results.

Southgate’s side may have had a favourable draw, helped by big names falling early, but they gave reason to be proud in Russia.

They attempted to play in a style that countered the old English stereotype of perspiration over inspiration. And while it would be understandable if Southgate took some time to recover from the anguish of getting so close to a World Cup final, this tournament has enhanced his reputation – and restored England’s.

Southgate restores unity

Southgate has been majestic – Ferdinand

England’s united front was not simply the reflection of a polished Football Association public relations strategy – it was a reality on and off the pitch.

In the past, England squads have been riven with divisions based around club loyalties. Southgate has ensured no such problems existed in Russia.

When captain Harry Kane referred to his fellow squad members as being “like brothers”, no-one flinched.

England’s players have genuinely shared a special bond in this past month, reflected in their behaviour – whether at training at Zelenogorsk, out and about in Repino, or on the pitch.

When the players got to their hotel rooms at the start of the tournament, the FA ensured they had photographs of their families there.

Southgate used the personal touch too. A member of the FA staff found a handwritten note from the England manager in his room on arrival – sharing it on social media.

Yes, it was part of an overall strategy but it was genuine – and there was a feeling of unity among everyone involved with England in Russia. That is something solid for Southgate to build on.

England have a manager with a plan

England leave Russia with plenty to encourage them – including a clear tactical plan.

In previous tournaments, tactics appeared a movable feast – from the farce of Paul Scholes playing on the left of midfield as Sven-Goran Eriksson tried to shoehorn his best players into a team, to the madcap selections of Roy Hodgson’s latter days in charge.

Southgate decided more than a year ago a 3-5-2 system was what suited England best, then decided on the players to fit it.

He wants England to be a modern, possession-based team. To a large extent, he has achieved that, although some bad long-ball habits returned when the tide turned against Croatia.

In terms of strategy, Southgate has demonstrated a clarity of thought that bodes well.

England feel the love

In the past England’s players have appeared aloof. Not any more. England has fallen in love with its footballers again.

There was a refreshing simplicity around this squad, after the overblown celebrity of the David Beckham era, the distasteful circus of the WAGs in Baden-Baden in Germany in 2006 and the unrelenting focus on high-profile stars such as Wayne Rooney.

Southgate said: “The desire of our public is to see players playing with pride, first and foremost.

“They want to see a team who leaves everything out on the pitch and they have seen that without question.

“They’ve got to know the players better I think and the reality is different to the perception, with this group in particular. There will be an affinity there.”

Wayne Rooney criticised the fans for booing after England’s 0-0 draw with Algeria at the 2010 World Cup

England’s players were remarkably open when telling their stories, such as when Danny Rose spoke about his struggle with depression.

The squad’s modesty and likeability touched a chord back home and led to a surge of goodwill bordering on hysteria as the World Cup progressed.

Relations between the team and journalists were cordial, as they played darts and mixed together at the media centre in Repino – with the slight blip of “teamsheetgate”, when assistant Steve Holland was pictured holding a piece of paper that appeared to give away the line-up for the group match against Panama.

The FA’s open-house policy with the media, starting with the Super Bowl-style presentation of 23 players for interview at St George’s Park in early June, fostered good relations, although results helped.

This was a happy England camp. It was reflected on and off the pitch.

England’s spine is being put in place

England not only have a team for the present but also one for the future – and the all-important spine is taking shape.

Jordan Pickford, at 24, has the capacity to be England’s goalkeeper for the next decade while Harry Maguire, only a year older, has been outstanding in that three-man defensive system, with the best yet to come from John Stones, who is 24.

Southgate has work to do in terms of midfield creation but Dele Alli will be a long-term fixture while 24-year-old captain and leading marksman Kane will, barring accidents, wear the armband and be England’s main spearhead for years to come.

England still need winning mentality

England’s ultimate disappointment came as a result of failing to close out a semi-final against Croatia despite controlling it for 45 minutes.

They are a team in development and there will be bumps in the road – but Southgate himself said England cannot be regarded as a top team until they beat a top team.

England have not beaten a team ranked above them at a major tournament since defeating Argentina in Japan during the 2002 World Cup. The current side have still to acquire that match hardness.

It was something Southgate has been reflecting on, saying: “We need to keep continually improving. The improvement over the last eight months has been dramatic, but we’ve had six matches playing with this system ahead of this tournament.

“The players have got a lot clearer. We felt the best way to be successful was to play that system and get the detail as clear as possible. Now we’ve cemented that, we can look at other things moving forward and progress in other areas.”

If they end their World Cup adventure by overcoming Belgium, who stand third in the Fifa rankings, it will be a highly satisfactory starting point.

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hsews · 6 years

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The Angel de Independencia in Mexico City overflowed with green-clad fans; TV crews set up in players’ homes to capture the reaction of family members and the party went on long into the night.

It was Oct. 2, 2005 and Mexico had won the Under-17 World Cup. “Los Ninos Heroes” (“The Heroic Children”) had just overcome none other than Brazil 3-0 in the final in Lima, and in Mexico the celebrations erupted as if El Tri had won the real thing. Mexico had never won a World Cup at any age category, and for one of soccer’s sleeping giants, it felt like a coming of age.

“It was a watershed moment for Mexican football,” said the team’s coach, “Chucho” Ramirez. “Even today I still get people congratulating me.”

Leading that team was Carlos Vela, with his cultured left foot, vision, explosiveness and sheer brilliance. A year younger than the rest of the squad, Vela was the tournament’s top scorer with five goals. He dazzled.

“As soon as he touched the ball, his ability, quality, speed and technique hit you,” Ramirez said, remembering the first time he saw Vela play. “I said immediately that this kid had something very different from the rest of the team.”

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In the 3-0 final win, Vela opened the scoring in the 31st minute with a low diving header from a Giovani dos Santos cross. Just 66 seconds later, Mexico had the ball in the back of the net once again and Vela played a crucial part. The 16-year-old had won the ball back straight from the kick-off, moved towards two Brazilian players, enticing them into the tackle before jinking back and passing square. It wasn’t a move that was played on repeat, but it opened up the pitch for Mexico and Omar Esparza went on to score.

The passage of play had all the hallmarks of the kind of fluid movement and flair associated with 1970s Brazil, and it encapsulated the subtle genius that is Vela playing soccer. Moments like that entranced Mexico and lulled fans into believing that El Tri‘s time had come, with Vela destined to become their first world superstar since Hugo Sanchez.

“[Vela] liked to almost make fun of opponents and sometimes he’d take them all on and score,” said Luis Manuel Diaz, who coached Vela at Chivas in a youth side that also included Javier Hernandez. Vela played under Diaz on the left wing with Hernandez on the right, although there was no doubt that Vela was the standout talent.

That World Cup win reluctantly turned the smiley teenager — one of his nicknames is “the hyena” — into a celebrity in Mexico. There was no turning back for Vela or others like Dos Santos and Efrain Juarez.

“I had the opportunity to leave the country very quickly — I was in Barcelona for two years — and for me it opened the panorama to understand that we’d achieved something very important for Mexico, not for the world,” recounted Juarez, who currently plays for Vancouver Whitecaps.

“You’d won something important at youth level but nothing at the full international level.”

Almost 13 years on from the festivities, trying to make a concrete kind of judgement on Vela’s career offers contradictions.

On one side, Vela’s decision to reject a call-up for the Olympics in 2012 and the World Cup in 2014, without ever fully explaining why, clouds public opinion. On the other, Vela became one of the best forwards in Spain, and rather than coming to Major League Soccer this season as a “retirement” move, he’s shown why LAFC invested so heavily in him and made him the franchise’s first-ever player.

But here’s the thing that Mexico fans should agree on. Whatever people think of Vela’s past, the 29-year-old can still be Mexico’s game-changer at Russia 2018 and he remains El Tri‘s most talented forward, despite the dizzying rise of Hirving Lozano and Hernandez’s achievements in Europe. Just like in 2005, he’s still a player that seduces, the kind of artist on the ball that makes you want to believe. We saw that in Mexico’s famous 1-0 win over Germany, in which Vela wasn’t overshadowed or overawed by Mesut Ozil, Thomas Muller or Julian Draxler.

Carlos Vela showed against Germany that he’s still one of Mexico’s best options. Ian MacNicol/Getty Images

Just don’t expect Vela to be overly concerned about any of the debate that has hung around him for years. The extraordinary thing about Vela may well be that he’s an ordinary person trapped in the goldfish bowl of world soccer.

“I think that what I don’t like is everything that surrounds a footballer,” Vela said in a 2014 interview with Canal+. “The fame, the people idolizing you, the press, not being able to have a normal life like normal person.

“I think that is what has held me back a little in football.”

After that 2005 World Cup, a normal life was always going to be difficult, and that became even clearer when Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal signed him from Chivas in November of the same year. Having previously played with youngsters of his age and without a debut in Mexico’s top division, Vela was suddenly thrust into a whole new world, left to survive in London and hold his own in training sessions with elite players like Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Robin van Persie.

Like Mexico teammate Hernandez, Vela comes from a soccer family. His father played for Pioneros FC in Cancun, his older brother Alejandro is at the tail end of a career that has seen him float between Mexico’s first and second division and his other brother Enrique was, until recently, the head coach of Pioneros. But while Mexico’s now-record scorer Hernandez had already made an impact for Chivas by the time he signed from Manchester United in 2010 and could speak English, Vela had none of that experience when he moved to England.

The Vela family hail from the Caribbean beach town of Cancun, a very different place when Vela was growing up than today’s super resort, and almost a different country from the big cities of Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey. Vela’s happy-go-lucky and laid-back personality perhaps reflects his place of origin.

“They are a normal, middle-class working family,” explained Ramirez. “I know his parents and I can tell you that they are very good people who gave Carlos a very good education at home because you immediately see that.”

From an early age, Vela’s personality and outlook on life shone through. There’s an interview with a local station just after he arrived Celta Vigo, where he was loaned from Arsenal in February 2006 due to work-permit issues. The politeness and dry wit were evident even at age 17, as were his ideals when it came to the professional game and its relationship with happiness.

“My family has taught me to keep my feet on the ground and be humble,” Vela says when asked about dealing with all the fan letters he was receiving. “You can have all the fame and all the money, but the important thing is the person. All the rest can help, but it isn’t important.”

It’s not too far removed from his statements over 10 years later, in January after signing for LAFC from Real Sociedad, a move that was widely lampooned in Mexico.

“In Mexico, everything is criticized,” Vela said then. “If you stay, if you don’t play, if you are bad, because you could go to a better team, there is always criticism and if you come here [to MLS] they criticize as well.

“In the end, the important thing is that you decide where you will be happy and where you can do well, to show that as well as being footballers, we are people.”

At Arsenal, Wenger picked up early on the Mexican needing more determination to get to the very top.

“He is naturally gifted, quick, intelligent and with very good technique, so you now want him to add that combative, determined side that makes the difference,” was Wenger’s take in 2008. “He’ll quickly be a world-class striker when he adds that to his game.”

The debate around whether Vela ever reached his peak is common in Mexico. He certainly found a home at Real Sociedad, after moving initially on loan from Arsenal in 2011, and achieved a status few Mexicans ever have in Spain.

The coastal Basque town of San Sebastian provided a safe haven for Vela, a place he settled after bouncing around from Arsenal on loan to Salamanca, Osasuna and West Brom. For the first time in his career, Vela made a consistent impact, scoring 12 goals in his first season in La Liga, 14 in his second and 20 in 2013-14, a feat that saw La Real qualify for the Champions League and him named as a candidate for best forward in La Liga alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and Diego Costa. (Yes, Vela was chosen ahead of Barcelona’s Lionel Messi.)

Vela was happy off the field and it was showing on it, as he became La Real‘s player of the year in 2012 and 2013.

“He’d walk through San Sebastian and drink coffee in front of the beach. He was a normal guy and we like that a lot here,” said San Sebastian journalist Oscar Badallo Gomez, who wrote “Los extranjeros de mi Real” (“Foreigners at my Real Sociedad”) and included Vela on the front cover. “Sometimes the stars don’t go out or only go to expensive restaurants, but Vela would go to expensive ones, cheap ones and would walk around the city like anyone else.

“On top of that, with his game, his goals, his passes and his crosses, we’ve had some very good years.”

After more than a few unsuccessful stops, Carlos Vela flourished with Real Sociedad. David Ramos/Getty Images

Real Sociedad has been a springboard to bigger clubs for many players down the years, and while Vela’s teammate and friend Antoine Griezmann moved to Atletico Madrid in the summer of 2014 off the back of historic success in San Sebastian, Vela was seemingly content to remain.

“The two of them were very good friends. They watched NBA together, went about San Sebastian to the theater, to dine, to clubs,” said Badallo Gomez. “But then you’d speak to Griezmann and he’d be looking for offers from big clubs to go there. Not for more money, but to win titles.

“I don’t think that money moves Griezmann, nor Vela,” he continued. “Vela could’ve earned more money in a different club, but he used to say he didn’t want to go to other teams because he was happy here and that was most important.”

But as Vela was establishing himself and fulfilling that potential in Europe, his national team career and relationship with Mexico was messy. Vela and Efrain Juarez were slapped with six-month bans from the Mexican federation following a party in a Monterrey hotel in September 2010, while more experienced players like Rafa Marquez, Carlos Salcido, Gerardo Torrado and others were only fined. In the game against Colombia earlier the same evening, Vela had reportedly ignored instructions from interim coach Efrain Flores.

After that episode, former Mexico goalkeeper Antonio Carbajal said Vela could “go to hell.” Former striker Carlos Hermosillo added that the forward had “no discipline,” and Alberto Garcia Aspe opined that Vela “needs psychological help.”

It was noticeable that one former player who didn’t pile on was Vela’s idol Hugo Sanchez, who has stuck up for Vela on more than one occasion down the years.

The last time Vela featured for Mexico before his temporary international retirement was in March 2011. At the time he was still trying to establish himself at Arsenal. Vela came all the way over from Europe to play 58 minutes in games against Venezuela and Paraguay, but when calls came for the Olympics in 2012 and Brazil 2014 and with Vela flying in from La Liga, the player simply said no.

“When you don’t betray yourself, you are guaranteed personal success,” Vela explained in a letter ahead of the last World Cup. “I’ll never betray myself or the people that believe in me.”

Vela returned to the national team in November 2014 with a statement performance. He netted two goals in Mexico’s 3-2 victory over the Netherlands, who had controversially knocked El Tri out of the World Cup just months previously, a stark reminder of what Mexico had missed. Now at Russia 2018, Mexico fans must be hoping that deep down inside Vela, there is a real longing to make a significant impact in Russia. The signs are tentatively positive after that performance against Germany.

Vela recently became a father, has seven goals in his first 12 games in MLS and has radiated a sense of maturity of late.

“It’s an accumulation of things,” Vela said of his form in a May 26 news conference. “When you are young you believe that you can do everything and you are invincible.

“Sometimes we take incorrect decisions, and from those you learn. … Having a family has helped me a lot. I focus better and it’s important for me that they support me and make me a better person.”

Is this Vela’s moment? It will certainly be his last (and only) World Cup in his prime. But whatever the doubters say, he’s still very much a player capable of leading Mexico to success, just like in those heady days of 2005.

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junker-town · 7 years

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Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott could make the Cowboys America’s Team again

Prescott and Elliott have made it much more fun to follow the Cowboys.

The Dallas Cowboys were once America’s Team. In their 1990s heyday, Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, and Michael Irvin won three Super Bowls, and no matter where you’re from, you knew at least one diehard Cowboys fan.

But 20 years of futility slowly changed that — until last season. With rookie sensations Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott in the fold, Dallas started to look like a team that fans across the nation can embrace once again.

The duo of Prescott and Elliott, plus one of the most consistent offensive lines in the league, paved the way for the team’s 13-3 finish in 2016. The Cowboys were the top seed in the NFC but fell short in the divisional round of the playoffs against the Packers.

But with these two young, exciting players anchoring the offense, along with star receiver Dez Bryant, the Cowboys are set to compete for years to come.

Prescott and Elliott eclipsed expectations as rookies

A 4-12 season in 2015 landed the Cowboys the fourth-overall pick, which they used on Elliott. It’s a risk taking a running back that high nowadays, but Elliott is a special player.

He accounted for nearly 2,000 yards from scrimmage, leading the league with 1,631 rushing yards. Elliott was also was third in the NFL last season for scoring behind only LeGarrette Blount and Jordan Howard. His 2016 performance even earned him six votes for the NFL’s MVP award.

Elliott’s teammate was even more of a pleasant surprise. The Cowboys drafted Prescott hoping he could develop into Tony Romo’s heir apparent. Prescott was a fourth-round pick and the eighth quarterback off the board, but he outperformed the others — including Jared Goff and Carson Wentz, the first- and second-overall picks in 2016.

It was Prescott, not Elliott, who won Offensive Rookie of the Year honors after an injury to Romo during the preseason forced the young quarterback into action earlier than the team expected. Prescott was so good in Romo’s stead that the team had no choice but to move forward with him even when Romo returned.

Prescott threw for 3,667 yards and 23 touchdowns against just four interceptions. His first pick of the season didn’t even happen until Week 6 against the Green Bay Packers, and that put Prescott ahead of Tom Brady in the record books for the most passing attempts without a pick.

Prescott and Elliott are just fun to watch

Prescott and Elliott enjoy themselves on the field, and it shows. Elliott gave us some of the most entertaining celebration dances last season, including a memorable jump into a giant Salvation Army bucket:

Their rapport is obvious off the field, too. Last year, they entertained us with an epic prank war that started with Elliott shooting straw wrappers at Prescott during an interview. But then Prescott got his revenge by filling Elliott’s locker with M&M’s. Zeke also roasted his quarterback about his shoe choices, though Dak finally won Elliott’s respect for wearing a pair of Yeezy’s.

The horseplay hasn’t stopped this offseason as Elliott rocked a cowboy hat during an interview session:

There is a new Sheriff in town. Zeke rocking a Stetson hat. The company provided one for the entire team. http://pic.twitter.com/5zitnukLnn

— Clarence Hill Jr (@clarencehilljr) June 14, 2017

Prescott seized the opportunity to crack a joke about it, though Elliott gave it right back:

Dak to Zeke: "Where did they find a [cowboy] hat big enough to fit you?" Zeke: "I'm gonna give you this hat to cover your hairline."

— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) June 14, 2017

Elliott and Prescott clearly have a good relationship, and it makes them seem more accessible to fans. That showed during Cowboys minicamp, when Prescott brought Raymond "Ray Ray" Melgarejo out onto the field to run some drills with the offense. Melgarejo, who came all the way from California as part of the Make-a-Wish program, got to hand the ball off to Elliott during drills, too.

The boost Prescott and Elliott have given to the team is measurable. The top-selling NFL jersey from July to October of 2016 wasn’t Tom Brady’s or Aaron Rodgers’. It was Elliott’s. Prescott’s no slouch. His jersey sales ranked fifth in the NFL over that timeframe.

And that hasn’t changed much since that time. Heading into their second season in the NFL, Prescott and Elliott are entrenched in the top five:

Top selling jerseys in May via https://t.co/39lry7l5lT: 1 Marshawn Lynch 2 Tom Brady 3 Dak Prescott 4 Ezekiel Elliott 5 Deshaun Watson

— James Palmer (@JamesPalmerTV) June 12, 2017

In an era when the league is baffled and concerned by declining TV ratings, the Cowboys were a lifesaver in 2016. People tuned in to watch the team’s dynamic rookies play, consistently giving the Cowboys the best television ratings in the league.

But Elliott and Prescott can’t do it alone

Defensive weaknesses would end up being Dallas’ downfall in the playoffs. The Cowboys’ pass defense was ranked 26th in the league last season, and it was lit up by Aaron Rodgers with 355 yards and two touchdowns in the divisional round. The secondary became a bigger need after Dallas lost Morris Claiborne and Brandon Carr in free agency.

The Cowboys used back-to-back picks on cornerbacks, with Chidobe Awuzie from Colorado in the second round, and Jourdan Lewis out of Michigan in the third round. They also got a couple of late-round secondary players, safety Xavier Woods and cornerback Marquez White, in the sixth round.

The Cowboys brought in free agent Nolan Carroll, who previously played for the Eagles. Carroll was arrested for DWI this offseason and could miss time if the NFL decides to suspend him for it. These new players join Orlando Scandrick, who started 10 games for Dallas last year, and Anthony Brown, who had nine starts. There’s going to be a heated competition for starting roles.

Scandrick, who was slowed by injuries last season, doesn’t feel threatened by the addition of so much defensive back talent.

“Like I told them, I’m not going to give anybody my job and I’m going to come work every day,” Scandrick said, via the team’s website. “I want to be back to where I was, and until I’m back to where I was and I’m doing it Sunday after Sunday after Sunday, I’m going to keep striving. And then when I get back to where I was, I’m going to reach for higher.”

The pass rush should also be better this season. Dallas used the 28th overall pick on defensive end Taco Charlton and brought in Stephen Paea and Damontre Moore in free agency. Jaylon Smith, who could have been a top-five pick in 2016 if he hadn’t suffered a catastrophic knee injury at the end of his final season at Notre Dame, should be healthy and ready to go for next season too.

DeMarcus Lawrence was only on the field for nine games last season due to injury and a suspension, but he should be healthy. Benson Mayowa, who led the team with six sacks last season, will also be back.

With an offense that ranked fifth in the league last season for total yards and points per game, even a little improvement with the pass rush and pass defense will go a long way toward helping the Cowboys take a step forward next season.

Getting back to America’s Team status

The name first started circulating back in 1978, thanks to Bob Ryan, now the vice president of NFL Films. He coined the term for the Cowboys when writing the script for voiceover for the team’s 1978 highlight film.

“I noticed then, and had noticed earlier, that wherever the Cowboys played, you saw people in the stands with Cowboys jerseys and hats and pennants,” Ryan said. “Plus, they were always the national game on television.”

Under legendary coach Tom Landry, the Cowboys had 20 consecutive winning seasons, from 1966 through 1985. Over that span, Dallas went to five Super Bowls, winning two.

But Dallas hasn’t gotten past the divisional round since 1995, the last year the Cowboys won a Super Bowl. As Dallas descended into mediocrity, it’s only natural that casual fans’ feelings toward the team became lukewarm.

The Cowboys still get plenty of national exposure. They ended up with six primetime games during the 2016 season, and they’ve got four on the schedule for 2017. There’s a good chance some of their other games could get flexed to Sunday Night Football later in the season, too.

So when you get stuck with the Cowboys as the national game on any given Sunday, settle in and enjoy watching Prescott and Elliott. They’ve made Dallas a fun team to watch, and because of them, the Cowboys are on their way to becoming America’s Team again.

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rickhorrow · 7 years

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15 to watch May 8 2017

Ahead of this week’s The Players Championship, the World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, Florida has opened its largest-ever exhibit highlighting golf’s “Fifth Major” and its venue, TPC Sawgrass. "The Players Experience," according to the Florida Times-Union, is an "1,800-square-foot tribute to the 43-year history of the PGA Tour event." It includes a nod to the 11 Hall of Famers who have won the tourney, and past champions "have donated memorabilia from their victories." An interactive display is devoted to the par-3 17th and its "Island Green," with a "quiz on 17 trivia and a large-screen enactment of what it's like to hit a tee shot" there. Other exhibits honor Hall of Fame members Deane Beman and Pete Dye for creating the tournament and the course; the contributions of its more than 2,000 volunteers; and the tournament’s charitable efforts, which contributed more than $85 million to the community since 1977. From the European Tour’s new GolfSixes format to the Zurich Classic’s team play and this Hall of Fame exhibit, golf’s visionaries are bringing fresh energy and creativity to the sport in order to better grow the game.

While Paris 2024 Olympic bid organizers are trying to keep politics out of the picture, the French presidential election continues to serve as the backdrop of the city’s battle to land the Games. According to SportsBusiness Journal, Paris 2024 co-Chair Tony Estanguet confirmed that the divisive election has not changed anything with the committee’s planning and execution. “We knew along the journey of the bid we'd have different elections,” said Estanguet. “We want to reduce the involvement of the political world. They are there to support. They are there to be tough. But we decide where to put the Olympic Village. The sport movement will be responsible for delivering the Games.” Paris remains as the favorite over Los Angeles currently, though tides can turn before the IOC September vote. Both cities are considered heavyweights and are each vying to host the Olympics for the third time. While organizers try their best, it is virtually impossible to keep politics out of the Olympics, especially where the IOC is involved. Look for newly-minted French President Emmanuel Macron to have an impact on both the Paris and L.A. bids.

He’s not even on an NBA team yet, but Lonzo Ball – and his father LaVar – are already making waves in the league with the release of a $500 shoe. The family’s Big Baller Brand just introduced the ZO2 Prime, which retails from $495-$695, while “an autographed version of is listed on bigballerbrand.com for $995,” according to Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. The shoes are "available for pre-order to be shipped by November 24." Comparatively, the most expensive version of Kevin Durant’s signature Nike shoe, the KD 9 iD, is $195, while teammate Stephen Curry’s Under Armour UA Curry3Zero is $119.99. And the "most expensive Jordan Brand shoe is the $400 Air Jordan 5 Retro Premium." LaVar Ball has repeatedly told media the family decided to produce their own shoes when none of the major shoe brands offered equity as part of endorsement deals reportedly in the $2 million annual range. Jordan, Durant, and Curry earned the right to put their name on expensive collectible shoes. Ball hasn’t run a single NBA play, and while the sticker shock value is getting the brand some publicity, it’s no sure thing the strategy will pay off for the family over time. Let your feet do their talking ON the court.

A bidding war is about to go down in Miami. According to the Miami Herald, a group led by Tagg Romney, son of former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, has “submitted a bid slightly higher” than the one Jeb Bush and Derek Jeter put in. The joint bid from Bush and Jeter to buy the Miami Marlins was for $1.3 billion, and the team is currently deciding which bid to accept. While the Marlins will be making this decision on their own, MLB must approve the transaction before it comes to fruition. Sources said that Marlins Owner Jeffrey Loria recently "struck a non-binding agreement – a handshake deal" – that Bush would be "given first opportunity to buy the team if he was able to provide proof of financing and quickly sign a purchase agreement." The Marlins "fully expected that Bush would be able to close the deal." While the deal will go down in Florida, the real news about this transaction will come from New York, as no ownership transfer will transpire without MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred’s approval.

As the NBA Playoffs builds to the conference finals, seventeen NBA franchises have committed to fielding teams in the inaugural NBA 2K esports league set to launch in 2018. Teams were asked to pay a buy-in fee in the low six figures to join the league, a joint venture of the NBA and Take Two Interactive, which publishes the 2K series. Teams will be operators, not owners. Brendan Donohue, the esports league’s newly named Managing Director, said, “We were hoping for half the teams to jump on board, and we got more than that. There are still a lot of teams very interested in joining in upcoming years." There are notable absences at launch, including the Rockets, who in December named Sebastian Park the league’s first Dir of Esports Development, and both Los Angeles teams. L.A. is an epicenter of the esports industry in North America. As esports leagues become more firmly entrenched, it’s no surprise that the major sports leagues are finding ways to turn their digital properties into esports gold. Expect the NFL to jump in the esports arena next, perhaps followed by MLS and/or FIFA/UEFA (tracking the global popularity of the FIFA video games).

Tickets are now on sale for The NFL Experience Times Square, an interactive attraction opening in November, and the NFL and partner Cirque du Soleil have released details about the experiences available. The attraction will offer fans “a chance to step into the shoes of an NFL player through various physical challenges, augmented reality, immersive elements and a 4D cinematic experience with exclusive content from NFL Films.” Fans will be able to participate in a vertical leap test and blocking sleds, receive one-on-one instruction from a hologram of a NFL legendary coach, learn a play in a space that replicates a coach’s classroom; test their skills by completing a game-winning pass to their favorite receiver, and share the stage with the Vince Lombardi Trophy. Why Cirque du Soleil? The NFL views the partnership as the meeting of the minds of two iconic global brands – and certainly no one is better at creating spectacular, jaw-dropping multimedia content than the Canadian acrobatic troupe.

The University of Michigan rarely has a tough time filling up The Big House in Ann Arbor, but this coming football season’s ticket sales are poised to break records. According to the Detroit News, the university’s season-ticket base “will reach 93,000 this fall, a mark it has not seen” since before the 2007 season. Season tickets typically hover around the 90,000 marker, which is set by the university, though the team’s recent success under Coach Jim Harbaugh has contributed greatly to the spike in season ticket sales. The athletic department added more season tickets because of an increased demand for them, for the “renewal rate among existing ticketholders currently stands” at an astounding 99%. Of the 93,000 season tickets being offered this coming season, 21,000 are allocated for students, which is also the “highest it’s been” since the 2007 season. In an era when student interest in their school’s sports is on the wane, it will be instructive to see how many of the 21,000 student seats are filled come fall.

Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott ended up No. 1 on the NFLPA Top 50 Player Sales List for fiscal year 2016-2017, becoming the first rookie to hold that honor. The list, according to the players association, is based on total sales of officially-licensed NFL player merchandise for the year that began March 1, 2016, and ended February 28, 2017. Rankings include all NFL player-identified merchandise and products sold by more than 80 official NFLPA licensees via online and traditional outlets with retail sales exceeding $1.6 billion. Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott finished No. 2 for year-end sales, while Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who had held the top spot through the end of Q3, finished in the No. 3 position despite winning the Super Bowl. Elliott’s feat proves that rookies who become major contributors on the field have the ability to equally enhance their sport’s bottom line off it. Kudos to Cowboys owner Jerry Jones for creating the marketing platform that helped propel Elliott and Prescott to the top of the list.

It looks like the New York Jets are already throwing in the towel for this coming season. According to the New York Post, Jets Owner Woody Johnson came as close as he could to labeling this coming season a “rebuilding year” without actually using the word “rebuilding” to describe his outlook. In an interview on ESPN Radio N.Y. 1050, Johnson said, “The way I want to be judged this year, hopefully from the fans’ standpoint, is watch how we improve during the year, look at each individual on the team and see how they’re getting better. If they’re getting better, that’s a mark of progress.” Talking about consistent improvement across the board over winning games, Johnson also noted that making the playoffs is not a clear expectation has for Coach Todd Bowles in the wake of a 5-11 season in 2016. Even though the Jets nabbed LSU safety Jamal Adams at #6 in the just-completed NFL Draft, Sports Illustrated gave the team a C- for its draft strategy overall. Small wonder that owner Johnson is exercising extreme caution when managing fan expectations.

The Boston Red Sox are in the process of revoking tickets of fans who used racial slurs toward Baltimore Orioles centerfielder Adam Jones. According to the Boston Globe, Red Sox Owner John Henry and President Sam Kennedy met with Jones to inform him of the steps the team is taking to handle the situation. Jones personally suggested fining fans who taunted him, but Kennedy suggested that fines are “probably in the hands of the police.” This issue is being handled both on the club level with the Red Sox and also at the league level with MLB officials and executives getting involved to ensure this is an isolated incident. Though it is nearly impossible to directly control what people say at ballparks, banning fans from coming back the Fenway Park would send a direct message that there is zero tolerance for racist behavior anywhere in sports.

With social media playing an increasingly large role in pro athletes’ lives, some coaches and managers have begun to regulate how their players use such platforms. According to the London Independent, Manchester United Manager José Mourinho “instigated a crackdown” on his players’ social media usage. Mourinho noted his frustration with how much information his players make public online and has since made rules to control the usage of Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram. Man U players “have been told that the club does not want them to publish any pictures from training, from the 48 hours leading up to a game or especially from the team bus on the way to games.” Mourinho wants his players “fully focused” on game days while also restricting “the flow of information out of the club, especially at sensitive times.” While social media is an unparalleled promotional platform, expect stances like Mourinho’s to become increasingly prevalent across all professional sports domestically and internationally.

Wimbledon organizers have announced that singles tennis champions will receive $2.84 million each, an increase of about $250,000 for "both the men's and women's winner." The total prize pot increases to $40.8 million, up from $36.3 million last year. According to Reuters, All England Club Chair Philip Brook said that the club "had 'taken into account' exchange rates, but that the 'Brexit effect' had not been instrumental in their calculations." Meanwhile, the All England Club confirmed that Wimbledon's second roofed court – Court No. 1 – "will be completed in time" for the 2019 championships. Let’s face it – Wimbledon could be held on a playground for lunch money and it would still attract the world’s top players, drawn to its storied history and prestige. The real arms race in tennis is winning the battle against the elements that begets more TV time that begets more revenue.

Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick remains a free agent more than eight weeks into free agency, but is that because of his on-field performance or off-field protesting? According to the S.F. Chronicle, some believe Kaepernick has still not been signed “because of his decision to kneel during the national anthem before games last season,” while others think his “on-field regression and potential distractions he’d bring to a franchise” are the real reasons he has not been picked up yet. Even since he led the 49ers to Super Bowl XLVII, the quarterback’s on-field performance has dipped considerably, while coinciding with his social protesting. It was reported a week before the start of free agency Kaepernick "would stand for the anthem" in 2017. Whether he "stands or not," Kaepernick "probably won’t be able to fade into the background, even though he most likely will be a backup." And let’s be clear – if Kaepernick’s on-field skills hadn’t deteriorated, he’d be on a team, regardless of political acts that haven’t really harmed anyone but him.

Following in the footsteps of other Power Five conferences, the ACC has committed itself to launching its own television network by 2019. According to Awful Announcing, ACC Commissioner John Swofford wrote a memo to conference Athletic Directors informing them that ESPN President John Skipper has confirmed plans to launch the network are “full speed ahead.” The new network hopes to be as successful as the Big 10 Network, which has been live for years now. ESPN plans to put all of its “muscle and support” toward the ACC Network to make it as financially successful as possible. ESPN currently has a deal in place with the ACC that runs through 2036, so it is in the network’s best interest to ensure the financial success of the new channel. Florida State AD Stan Wilcox thinks the network “will be successful” despite the recent talent cuts at ESPN. No one expects ESPN to go quietly into the night, and forging ahead with high-profile partnerships and expansion plans is one way to maintain the confidence of advertisers and parent Disney.

University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban "got a healthy raise and a few more years on his deal," as the Alabama Board of Trustees compensation committee approved a new contract through the 2024 season worth an average of $8.2 million annually. According to AL.com, the deal includes a $4 million signing bonus, giving Saban total compensation of $11.15 million in 2017. The structure of the deal is "different from those in the past," as Saban's "base pay actually went down" while "annual completion bonuses" were added. USA Today sports investigative reporter Steve Berkowitz also noted that Saban's 2017 earnings will be "by far the greatest amount paid to a college athletics coach" since USA Today Sports began tracking those numbers in 2006…and that Saban's $4 million signing bonus is greater than Coppin State's total athletics revenue for the 2015 fiscal year. Ball’s in your court, University of Michigan Board of Trustees. How long before Jim Harbaugh – he of the $9 million in annual compensation via life insurance policy – comes knocking?

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mastcomm · 4 years

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Central Michigan’s Left Tackle Factory (Some Assembly Required)

As the ball hung in the air, Joe Staley saw his opportunity.

The 49ers won that game, improving to 3-10, but Coach Kyle Shanahan suggested that Staley might be in line for a fine, adding that the play had revealed a certain character flaw in Staley, then 34.

“Joe refuses to fully believe he’s an O-lineman,” Shanahan said. “He’s always trying to show us how athletic he is.”

“He still runs like it,” Garoppolo said when asked about Staley’s days as a track star. “Dude can fly and he’ll let you know about it, too.”

Staley argues he could still play tight end, but he doesn’t expect to have his number called anytime soon. “It wouldn’t be smart,” he said. “We have a pretty good one right now.”

When told about that comment, Kittle concurred.

“One-hundred percent,” he said. “I am holding Joe Staley back.”

Getting Big

The methods by which the players bulked up, however, were different.

Staley described a painstaking approach to adding 25 pounds a year, which involved going to some extremes.

“I was waking myself up at like 2 in the morning having huge, huge weight-gainer shakes,” he said. Coach Brian Kelly, now at Notre Dame, gave Staley a simple mantra: “Eat everything you can.”

For Fisher, who arrived at college skinnier than many wide receivers, the change in size had more to do with access to Central Michigan’s meal plan than any sort of well-orchestrated effort.

“It was the first time in my life that I could eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted,” he said. “It was pretty nice.”

“I reversed everything I was doing,” Thomas said. “No more freezer pizzas before bed.”

“I love organic stuff, but I am an offensive lineman,” he said. “So if I were to eat completely healthy all the time, then I would not be an offensive lineman anymore.”

Staley’s Time to Shine?

“Of course,” said Emmanuel Sanders, a veteran wide receiver. “You see his footwork? You see the way he moves?”

Garoppolo’s camera-ready smile took a brief recess, however, when he was asked if that meant he would be O.K. with having a play called for Staley, and he deadpanned, “I didn’t say that.”

But Presnell, who has known Staley for nearly 20 years, said the only thing missing was opportunity. Asked if Staley would catch a ball thrown his way, Presnell was emphatic.

“There is no doubt,” he said.

Ken Belson contributed reporting.

from WordPress https://mastcomm.com/central-michigans-left-tackle-factory-some-assembly-required/

#Sport

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flauntpage · 5 years

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Eagles Players Dispute Philly Voice Story Describing Carson Wentz as “Selfish” and “Uncompromising”

Joe Santoliquito, coming in hot on MLK Day.

I have been judged as the most pragmatic and reasonable Crossing Broad writer, therefore I’ve been assigned the reactionary piece to Joe’s piece.

Let’s go through the story and pull some excerpts to analyze.

Writes Joe:

But while the sentiment in the Eagles’ locker room is that Foles is “universally loved,” Wentz isn’t.

More after the jump:

Numerous sources confirmed Wentz was once verbally attacked by a highly respected teammate for not being “a team guy.”

According to multiple sources, Wentz tended to “complicate” the offense. He didn’t let it come organically, as Foles did. According to one source, Wentz could “complicate 2+2.”

But Nick Foles still threw at Ertz frequently.

Here are those numbers:

Sure.

For what it’s worth, and this might be burying the lede, but several Eagles came out on social media to dispute the allegations made by the anonymous sources:

— fletcher cox (@fcoxx_91) January 21, 2019

And Brandon Brooks:

What my guy @fcoxx_91 said!!! pic.twitter.com/DpRr39ZcEI

— Brandon Brooks (@bbrooks_79) January 21, 2019

And now Lane Johnson:

Whoever wrote that article needs to check their "sources". #fakenews

Carson has been and is our leader and our QB. Y'all know where to find me if you have any issues.#flyeaglesfly

— Lane Johnson (@LaneJohnson65) January 21, 2019

Some people went back and pulled some previous things he said/wrote about Wentz to see if there were any conclusions to draw, any particular “bias” towards one guy over the other.

Here are some findings via “Patrick” on Twitter:

Relevant context: The author from today’s bombshell report on Wentz has had some… strong opinions on Wentz in the past. pic.twitter.com/ZlFPVIH7NJ

— Patrick (@pmc1423) January 21, 2019

Right, so you can reach your own conclusions with this story. Go read the Voice piece and see how you feel. I’m sure we’ll get a few more responses from teammates.

The post Eagles Players Dispute Philly Voice Story Describing Carson Wentz as “Selfish” and “Uncompromising” appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Eagles Players Dispute Philly Voice Story Describing Carson Wentz as “Selfish” and “Uncompromising” published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

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newstwitter-blog · 7 years

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New Post has been published on News Twitter

New Post has been published on http://www.news-twitter.com/2017/02/03/washington-post-the-nfls-ongoing-awkward-dance-with-touchdown-celebrations-13/

Washington Post: The NFL’s ongoing awkward dance with touchdown celebrations

(Animation by Eddie Alvarez/The Washington Post)

KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Last week, during the NFC’s Pro Bowl practice, Odell Beckham Jr. snagged a football and bolted for the back of the end zone, unleashing a vicious windmill dunk over the goal post. The crowd roared in approval at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports complex.

It was what the Pro Bowl is all about. The fans packed the stands for showmanship. They won’t remember who won or lost the game, but Beckham gave them a lasting memory.

Then again, should a player celebrate a touchdown in that manner Sunday during Super Bowl LI, it would draw a 15-yard penalty and a fine from the NFL — even though the highlight would be looped on sports networks and social media throughout the week.

Former NFL wide receiver and 2017 Hall of Fame finalist Terrell Owens spoke about his approach to touchdown celebrations, Feb. 2, on an interview with Redskins reporter Master Tesfatsion. (Thomas Johnson/The Washington Post)

The NFL’s dance with touchdown celebrations has long been an awkward one, a precarious balance between players exercising self-expression and league sanctions, between creativity and control. As the players adapted to the NFL’s additional guidelines on post-touchdown decorum, the discussion has been entertaining for fans, if a frustrating exercise for over-exuberant players.

When the Giants’ Homer Jones first spiked the football in 1965, the crowd screamed its approval. But Jones had hurled the ball to the ground because a new league rule threatened a fine if he fired it into the stands as he had wanted, and as his teammate Frank Gifford had done in prior seasons.

Through its then-new restriction, the NFL gave birth to the most widely recognized touchdown celebration in history.

Scoring a touchdown is one of the greatest individual accomplishments a player can achieve in a given game. Celebration is hard to suppress, and it has often produced moments more memorable than the scoring play itself.

The Internet is brimming with hours of clips depicting the game’s most indelible end-zone dances. There’s the “Ickey Shuffle,” debuted by Bengals running back Ickey Woods.

youtube

And then there’s the “Dirty Bird,” crafted by former Falcon Jamal Anderson.

youtube

This season, clips of Beckham’s “Thriller” dance or Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown’s twerking filled social-media streams for hours following game days, with views piling up into the hundreds of thousands.

But the flamboyance has been shunned by a league that has attempted to restrict in-game celebrations. It is an issue NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the league will address — yet again — in the offseason.

“That’s something we’ll look at,” Goodell said Wednesday in Houston ahead of Super Bowl LI. “But it’s also something that we’ve been dealing with for well over 35 years since I’ve been in the league in the same concept: balancing sportsmanship, avoiding taunting and trying to allow players the ability to express themselves in an exuberant way to celebrate. We think that’s great. We want to see more of that. We want to see the players do that. But we want to see them do it respectfully to their teammates and their opponents.”

Antonio Brown earned a fine, and great renown, for his Week 1 twerking touchdown celebration against the Redskins. (Geoff Burke/USA Today Sports)

Over the past few seasons, the NFL’s increasing number of rules and fines has restricted its players’ ability to express themselves, to the disapproval of both those players and their fans.

“That’s what is missing from today’s fabric of the environment with the National Football League,” former NFL wide receiver and 2017 Hall of Fame finalist Terrell Owens said. “Obviously a lot of people now call it the ‘No Fun League,’ but I think that’s what is really taking the joy and the enjoyment out of the game. Really, for fans, they not only want to see their team win; they don’t just only want to see a good product from both squads, but they want to see some entertainment. That’s what I tried to provide without messing with the integrity of the game.”

Owens will be immortalized on one level whenever he enters the Hall of Fame, but his touchdown celebrations have already reached that status. His showmanship influenced an entire generation of NFL athletes.

Still, it started before Owens, who said he didn’t grow up as a student of the game but was aware of the players that had come before him — and danced in the end zone while they were there. With the first football spike came an era of innovative celebrations that has spanned more than half a century. It continued with Billy “White Shoes” Johnson and “The Funky Chicken” dance in the 1970s. The Washington Redskins of the early ’80s created a celebratory group of receivers and the occasional running back called “The Fun Bunch,” which followed offensive touchdowns with a loosely choreographed group high-five in the end zone.

“Whenever I hear touchdown celebrations, it’s just Billy White Shoes for me,” Denver Broncos linebacker Von Miller said. “I think that’s just one of the first [players] to change it up. That was way before my time, but when I think about celebrations and dances, that’s what comes to my mind. I feel like whenever you make a great play, I think that’s the icing on top. A great play is going to be a great play. When you put that celebration on top of it, it makes it even better.”

There were rules in place during the 1980s specifying that excessive celebrations could be considered unsportsmanlike conduct, although the verbiage was more relaxed. It wasn’t enforced as it is today, likely because of the influence that players such as Owens, Deion Sanders, Chad Johnson (later Ochocinco) and Randy Moss had during the 1990s and 2000s. Sanders high-stepped his way into the end zone, Owens stood on the Dallas Cowboys’ midfield star at Texas Stadium and pulled out a Sharpie from his sock to sign a ball, Johnson proposed to a cheerleader and wore a faux-Hall of Fame jacket on the sidelines, and Moss pretended to moon Packers fans at Lambeau Field.

These players put their own spin on showmanship, but they were also criticized for it by fans, commentators and and players who felt that the behavior wasn’t upholding the integrity of the game. One celebration from Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin drew particular ire, when he used the football to simulate a bowel movement in Super Bowl XLIX.

“What I was doing was only having fun with the game,” Owens said of his own celebrations. “That just motivated me more, and I understood that I wasn’t doing anything obscene; I wasn’t doing anything embarrassing not only to myself but to the organization. Some of the stuff I’m sure toed the line of the conduct part of it, but at the time I was scoring touchdowns and I was celebrating. They really didn’t have nothing in place that they could take away from the celebrations.”

Over the past decade, the NFL has enforced tougher penalties on what it deems excessive celebrations. It first, in 2006, banned the usage of props and incorporated a 15-yard penalty for anything excessive and later, in 2014, abolished dunking on the goal posts.

While the league has continued to legislate against celebrations — with current rules outlawing displays that are “prolonged” or involve foreign objects, falling to the ground, using the ball as a prop, or two or more players performing premeditated choreography — it has also apparently recognized the appeal of such actions to fans. The league-owned NFL Network currently features a show starring former players Ike Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew called “Celebration Station,” in which the two recap the best such moments from game action. Brown’s attempt to mimic Spider-Man and stick to the goal post after a touchdown drew a penalty during the game but was highlighted as part of the show’s “Top 5 Best Celebrations of 2015.”

youtube

The penalties have been puzzling to current players, notably for Redskins cornerback Josh Norman, who repeatedly questioned why the league fined him for miming a bow and arrow after an interception against the Cleveland Browns in Week 4. The rules have also been the subject of parody, with Comedy Central’s “Key and Peele” skewering the league with a fictional rule on the allowable number of pelvic thrusts following a touchdown. That sketch was invoked at the Super Bowl when Commissioner Roger Goodell was asked whether he believed the rules required more clarity.

Roger Goodell asked if NFL should implement McCringleberry “Two Pump Limit” pic.twitter.com/KrxWqiKPkZ

— gifdsports (@gifdsports) February 1, 2017

Owens believes, whatever its reasons, that the league is taking the fun out of the game.

“[Owens] is a showman, and that’s what you should do,” Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans said. “It’s hard to score touchdowns in the NFL. If you get in there, you should throw a party. I wish we could a little bit more, but you’ve got to stay within the confinements of the rules.”

Some players have continued to find ways to express themselves, however, legally or not. Beckham has been part of this social-media dancing era in which players break out the dab or Michael Jackson moves; Brown was a noted favorite among Pro Bowl players when asked who had the best touchdown celebrations, though he has racked up a few fines along the way.

Whether the league chooses to relax its celebration rules, players have shown that they will continue to express themselves — even as the NFL gives them fewer ways to do so.

“All the stuff back then, we can’t do it now,” Evans said. “I wanted to dunk on the goal post and things like that. … I’m trying to figure out a signature touchdown dance. I can’t think of anything without getting fined.”

This post has been harvested from the source link, and News-Twitter has no responsibility on its content. Source link

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flauntpage · 5 years

Text

Eagles Players Dispute Philly Voice Story Describing Carson Wentz as “Selfish” and “Uncompromising”

Joe Santoliquito, coming in hot on MLK Day.

I have been judged as the most pragmatic and reasonable Crossing Broad writer, therefore I’ve been assigned the reactionary piece to Joe’s piece.

Let’s go through the story and pull some excerpts to analyze.

Writes Joe:

But while the sentiment in the Eagles’ locker room is that Foles is “universally loved,” Wentz isn’t.

More after the jump:

Numerous sources confirmed Wentz was once verbally attacked by a highly respected teammate for not being “a team guy.”

According to multiple sources, Wentz tended to “complicate” the offense. He didn’t let it come organically, as Foles did. According to one source, Wentz could “complicate 2+2.”

But Nick Foles still threw at Ertz frequently.

Here are those numbers:

Sure.

For what it’s worth, and this might be burying the lede, but several Eagles came out on social media to dispute the allegations made by the anonymous sources:

— fletcher cox (@fcoxx_91) January 21, 2019

And Brandon Brooks:

What my guy @fcoxx_91 said!!! pic.twitter.com/DpRr39ZcEI

— Brandon Brooks (@bbrooks_79) January 21, 2019

And now Lane Johnson:

Whoever wrote that article needs to check their "sources". #fakenews

Carson has been and is our leader and our QB. Y'all know where to find me if you have any issues.#flyeaglesfly

— Lane Johnson (@LaneJohnson65) January 21, 2019

Some people went back and pulled some previous things he said/wrote about Wentz to see if there were any conclusions to draw, any particular “bias” towards one guy over the other.

Here are some findings via “Patrick” on Twitter:

Relevant context: The author from today’s bombshell report on Wentz has had some… strong opinions on Wentz in the past. pic.twitter.com/ZlFPVIH7NJ

— Patrick (@pmc1423) January 21, 2019

Right, so you can reach your own conclusions with this story. Go read the Voice piece and see how you feel. I’m sure we’ll get a few more responses from teammates.

The post Eagles Players Dispute Philly Voice Story Describing Carson Wentz as “Selfish” and “Uncompromising” appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Eagles Players Dispute Philly Voice Story Describing Carson Wentz as “Selfish” and “Uncompromising” published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

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