Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Labour Day Weekend Wrap-Up
So I'm gonna scattershoot some stuff from over the long weekend:
- Can someone give Chan Gailey and his offensive co-ordinator some balls? I mean I don't know too much about the college game except I'm a fan of Notre Dame and I generally like the enthusiasm of the college game over the pro game but my God these two guys must be complete dunderheads. Calvin Johnson is a BEAST! Yet, they hardly have the ball thrown to him in the 2nd half. It's like they're hellbent on winning despite having one of the most gifted WRs to come out in YEARS. I sat there in total awe of this guy making great catches and being a great playmaker. Let's hope for GT fans' sakes that Gailey and Nix actually decide to you know, THROW TO THEIR GO-TO RECEIVER!!! I know I sound frustrated and I shouldn't because ND barely scraped by but as a fan of football I can't help but notice such blatant stupidity.
- I see the rumours were true about ABC sports being basically thrown away in favour of everything being run by ESPN. In some ways I felt pangs of sadness. Sure, Fox is still riding high and CBS is doing good for itself with the NFL but it really strikes me as sad that the idea of prime time sports being run by an over the air network seems to be dead. I'm pretty sure that Roone Arledge is rolling over in his grave now as the once great ABC sports division has vanished into the ether.
- As for the broadcasters, they were pretty good. I can't believe I'm saying this but Brent Musberger wasn't that bad. He called the game down the middle, knew how to involve his analysts and generally kept the flow going. I did have to laugh at his look tho. As is common in live sports broadcasting you'll get a few minutes of the guys in the booth. Herbstreit and Davie looked as one would think they should but Musberger was wearing a short sleeve work shirt. The man looked like a complete anachronism as he looked like a working class guy from the 1950s!
- In news that I'm sure no one in America has heard we now have a new all-time leading passer in professional football history. Last night Damon Allen of the CFL's Toronto Argonauts broke Warren Moon's pro football record. As some might be aware of, Allen is the brother of NFL HOF'er Marcus Allen. Damon has achieved this mark through consistency as he was never really viewed as the best QB in the league in his career. He just kept piling up the yards and playing remarkably well for a man his age. I guess critics of the CFL would laugh that an old guy is still one of the better QBs in the league but I like to think that he's just been gifted with great skill and consistency over the years. Interestingly enough, Allen's mark didn't come on a long bomb or anything like that but rather it came on a shovel pass that resulted in a Touchdown.
- This of course leads us to the big debate (well to Canadians I guess) Should Damon Allen go into the Pro Football Hall of Fame? He's certainly a lock to go into the CFL Hall but the people at Canton like to think of their Hall as the Mecca of pro football and so on that basis I think Allen deserves to go in. Of course that'll never happen because he never played a down in the NFL and like it or not NFL beat writers are ignorant to anything that happens north of the border with the possible exception being SI's Peter King who has always made positive remarks about the CFL.
- Last but not least, I have to end this on a sad note as many of us now know the Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin is dead. At least he died doing what he loved and quite frankly he was a great ambassador to conservatism and animal protection. He was truly a unique personality. The world has truly lost a great man.
- Can someone give Chan Gailey and his offensive co-ordinator some balls? I mean I don't know too much about the college game except I'm a fan of Notre Dame and I generally like the enthusiasm of the college game over the pro game but my God these two guys must be complete dunderheads. Calvin Johnson is a BEAST! Yet, they hardly have the ball thrown to him in the 2nd half. It's like they're hellbent on winning despite having one of the most gifted WRs to come out in YEARS. I sat there in total awe of this guy making great catches and being a great playmaker. Let's hope for GT fans' sakes that Gailey and Nix actually decide to you know, THROW TO THEIR GO-TO RECEIVER!!! I know I sound frustrated and I shouldn't because ND barely scraped by but as a fan of football I can't help but notice such blatant stupidity.
- I see the rumours were true about ABC sports being basically thrown away in favour of everything being run by ESPN. In some ways I felt pangs of sadness. Sure, Fox is still riding high and CBS is doing good for itself with the NFL but it really strikes me as sad that the idea of prime time sports being run by an over the air network seems to be dead. I'm pretty sure that Roone Arledge is rolling over in his grave now as the once great ABC sports division has vanished into the ether.
- As for the broadcasters, they were pretty good. I can't believe I'm saying this but Brent Musberger wasn't that bad. He called the game down the middle, knew how to involve his analysts and generally kept the flow going. I did have to laugh at his look tho. As is common in live sports broadcasting you'll get a few minutes of the guys in the booth. Herbstreit and Davie looked as one would think they should but Musberger was wearing a short sleeve work shirt. The man looked like a complete anachronism as he looked like a working class guy from the 1950s!
- In news that I'm sure no one in America has heard we now have a new all-time leading passer in professional football history. Last night Damon Allen of the CFL's Toronto Argonauts broke Warren Moon's pro football record. As some might be aware of, Allen is the brother of NFL HOF'er Marcus Allen. Damon has achieved this mark through consistency as he was never really viewed as the best QB in the league in his career. He just kept piling up the yards and playing remarkably well for a man his age. I guess critics of the CFL would laugh that an old guy is still one of the better QBs in the league but I like to think that he's just been gifted with great skill and consistency over the years. Interestingly enough, Allen's mark didn't come on a long bomb or anything like that but rather it came on a shovel pass that resulted in a Touchdown.
- This of course leads us to the big debate (well to Canadians I guess) Should Damon Allen go into the Pro Football Hall of Fame? He's certainly a lock to go into the CFL Hall but the people at Canton like to think of their Hall as the Mecca of pro football and so on that basis I think Allen deserves to go in. Of course that'll never happen because he never played a down in the NFL and like it or not NFL beat writers are ignorant to anything that happens north of the border with the possible exception being SI's Peter King who has always made positive remarks about the CFL.
- Last but not least, I have to end this on a sad note as many of us now know the Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin is dead. At least he died doing what he loved and quite frankly he was a great ambassador to conservatism and animal protection. He was truly a unique personality. The world has truly lost a great man.
# posted by Chris Fung @ 9:07 AM 
