Random Musings - Urban Sprawl

By "being judged on how you are...as a father" was outgoing Florida Gators head football coach Urban Meyer referring to spending more time watching his daughters play sports, or regaining the opportunity to coach his son?

________________________________________________

I'm a big fan of ESPN's Mike Tirico and his Open Mike Podcast.  His latest one is a chat with NCAA president Mark Emmert in which they discuss the BCS and the possibility of the NCAA someday paying student-athletes (which I hope never happens, but that's another discussion for another time...).  It's a pretty good listen.

________________________________________________

Um, courtesy of Gawker, Granny Gets Her Freak On at USC Tailgate [moderately SFW]

_________________________________________________

Finally, I know I've been all over the Dougie lately, but this is clearly the new dance craze.

And if you stop watching before the 2:32 mark, you're really missing the party.

Todd Haley Won't Need Any More Purell

Remember in Week 10 when the Kansas City Chiefs were taken behind the woodshed and beaten within an inch of their collective football lives by the Denver Broncos?  And then, in a much ado about nothing moment, the talking heads were up in arms about Kansas City coach Todd Haley's postgame handshake snub of Josh McDaniels, his Denver counterpart.

Haley later apologized, but refused to elaborate as to why he refused to shake McDaniels' hand.  In fact, they even kissed and made up when they payed this past week.

Now that Denver has confirmed that McDaniels has been relieved of his duties, what are the odds that Haley sends him a note of condolence?

Oh, and here's the only Dougie I've seen worse than Drew Stanton's.

Teach Him How To Dougie

Detroit Lions' third string QB Drew Stanton (how in the world does he have an "official website"???) after a 3 yard touchdown scamper:



Washington Wizards rookie PG John Wall during pregame introductions before his first regular season home game as a professional:



Wall was a one-and-done player at Kentucky.  Do you think we could get him to educate Stanton in the sacred art of the Dougie for college credit and get Wall one step closer to his degree?

And this was unquestionably the greatest celebration in Detroit Lions history.  Well, in 2010, at least.

Beard of the Week - Ryan Fitzpatrick, Buffalo Bills

At some point, things have to start going Buffalo's way, right?  While the fact that there are other tortured fanbases out there is dully noted, the Bills have to be in the conversation.
OK, try this: close your eyes and think about the history of the Bills.  I'm more than willing to wager that one of the first things that comes to mind is on the following list (the rich AFL tradition of the franchise notwithstanding):

1. Scott Norwood.
2. Always the bridesmaid, but never the bride.
3. O.J. Simpson.

All of those past demons lurking about have to make the current season that much more of a jagged little pill for Bills fans to swallow.  At 2-9 at the time of this writing, the Bills have easily been the pluckiest team sporting a .181 winning percentage in the history of organized football.  Consider that after their Week 6 bye...

• Week 7:  37-34 overtime loss to (current division leader) Baltimore
• Week 8:  13-10 overtime loss to (current division leader) Kansas City
• Week 9:  22-19 loss in regulation to (current division leader) Chicago (maybe they win this one if they're not exported to Toronto as a "home game")
• Week 10: 14-12 win over Detroit
• Week 11: 49-31 win over Cincinnati
• Week 12: 19-16 overtime loss to (current division leader - tied with Baltimore) Pittsburgh.

This is not a team that has made a stop at the post office and mailed it in.  Their record doesn't indicate it at all; but Bills are actually a watchable team, if only because you know they'll take a punch and and keep on coming. Against the Steelers, in a game that nobody gave them a chance to win (except, perhaps, the mothers of some of the Bills players - but I'd bet even they had their doubts...), Ryan Fitzpatrick did everything asked of him in order to win that game.  He marched his team down the field for a game tying field goal with :02 remaining in regulation.  In overtime, he threw a perfect pass to Steve Johnson, who as of late looked like he was becoming the first relevant wide receiver in Buffalo since Andre Reed.

But apparently Johnson had enjoyed a hot butter sandwich just before the overtime began.

Then he issued the tweet heard 'round the world.

Then he backtracked a bit (good piece by ESPN's AFC East blogger Tim Graham).

But despite the fact that the Bills went on to lose the game,  Fitzpatrick and his lumberjackian beard look like they are laying the groundwork for becoming a respectable team again in the near future.

Either that, or the 2010 Bills are just going to become another notch on the Bedpost of Failure in Buffalo.


In honor of Derek Anderson's meltdown, enjoy: