Let’s take a moment to forget how horrible the loss was -- if that’s possible -- and focus in on the numbers.
Because buried deep beneath the wreckage of the Eagles’ third straight fourth-quarter collapse, there was a historic performance by Michael Vick that’s gone virtually unnoticed. And some other pretty interesting facts, figures, stats and trends.
We're doing a season-long NFL roundtable with our friends at Slate . Check back here each week as a rotating cast of football watchers discusses the weekend's key plays, coaching decisions, and traumatic brain injuries.
I watched most of t he Buccaneers' 24-17 win over the Colts on Monday Night Football , mostly because I wanted to see how the Greenest Quarterback in the Year of the Quarterback would perform. As a cap-wearing backup to Peyton Manning (the Greatest Quarterback) for two seasons, Curtis Painter was an easy target of ridicule. In his rookie season, 2009, he played only when Indianapolis, sitting on a 14-0 record, decided to pass up the chance to finish a perfect 16-0. He didn't throw a pass in 2010. But then Manning had neck surgery, and his gray-bearded replacement, Kerry Collins, was concussed, and the cherubic Painter started his first game as a pro.
The tradition of the Oyster Bowl, an annual college football game in Hampton Roads for 61 years, will return to Foreman Field in 2011.
The Monarchs’ Oct. 29 game against James Madison will be designated the 62nd Oyster Bowl, with an additional $1 added to the ticket cost to support the Shriners’ Hospital for Children.
Some of the Thoughts That Run Through an Oversized, Bald Head:
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Everyone loves what-ifs in terms of going back to previous NFL Drafts. Perhaps the most memorable one of the last 15 or so years is that supposedly at least half of the league's general managers would've taken Ryan Leaf in favor of Peyton Manning back in 1998. What a bizarre top-4 that was, huh? Manning will obviously be a Hall of Famer. Leaf was arguably the biggest bust in the history of the draft, finishing with a 50.0 rating, 36 interceptions and 14 TD passes. The third pick was defensive end Andre Wadsworth, who played a grand total of 36 games and registered eight sacks. However, the No. 4 pick was Charles Woodson, who is also destined for Canton, possibly a first-year inductee like Manning. That was also the memorable Randy Moss draft, as he dropped to 21st because of non-football related issues.
Two teams without much bowl experience get together Thursday in the Armed Forces Bowl in Dallas.
Southern Methodist University (7-6), which lost in the Conference USA title game, meets the United States Military Academy (6-6), which is in a bowl for the first time since 1996. This is just Army's fifth bowl ever, and it's only the 13th for SMU. It's the Mustangs' second bowl in a row, but last season's postseason appearance was the school's first since 1984.
Born into a family of Sudanese cattle farmers, Manute Bol didn't start playing basketball until he was sixteen years old. A U.S. college coach spotted him and convinced him to come to America, and the rest is history. At 7'7'', Bol became the tallest man to ever play in the NBA and attendance soared when he played on the road. He endeared himself to fans (whom he called his "friends") and was often juxtaposed in posters next to fellow Washington Bullet Muggsy Bogues, the NBA's shortest player at 5'3". More than a curiosity, during his ten year career Bol was one of the best shot blockers in the league and even developed into a decent 3-point shooter.He remains the only player in the NBA to have more blocked shots than points scored. "I had a good time with the American people," Bol told Sports Illustrated after retiring from basketball. "I hope they remember me as a good guy who played hard. I wasn't Michael Jordan, but I was somebody called Manute Bol." Bol died on June 19, 2010.
He was The Boss, and George Steinbrenner came to revel in all it would suggest.
He filled a room with loud talk and big money, making promises of players to come, games to be won and the titles that must follow. He was the principal owner of the New York Yankees, but commander was really more like it.
We survived WikiLeaks, BP’s Gulf of Mexico crude spillcam from April to mid-July, leaked phone rants which showed us a dark side of Mel Gibson and ash escaping from that Icelandic volcano with the catchy name, Eyjafjallajokull. Leak that!
The BP spill leaves us an 80-mile “kill zone” where scientists say oil settled and destroyed virtually all life except CEO Tony Hayward. He got his life back, although not by May 30. One calami-tea party after another, except here in the Jack, where we offset spills with thrills from Herman’s Hermits and Judy Ivey.
