Swift discipline for Haynesworth = 5 games …
The 6-foot-6, 320-pound Haynesworth stomped on Dallas Cowboys center Andre Gurode's head Sunday, knocking off his helmet, then kicked and stomped his face. Gurode needed 30 stitches to repair the cuts left by the tackle's cleats, and plans to talk with his family about whether or not to press charges, his agent told Nashville police Monday.
The league suspended Haynesworth for five games -- more than twice the length of the previous longest suspension -- for flagrant unnecessary roughness. He won't be paid while he serves the suspension, effective immediately. According to ESPN's Chris Mortensen, the penalty will cost him approximately $500,000, based on his $1.6 million salary this season.
"There is absolutely no place in the game, or anywhere else, for the inexcusable action that occurred in yesterday's Titans-Cowboys game," new NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said.
Haynesworth's previous problems had been hidden from attention because they took place in practice. As a sophomore at Tennessee, he fought with a teammate and left practice, returning with a long pole looking for tackle Will Ofenheusle before coach Phillip Fulmer stopped him. He was suspended for a half of a game.
During 2003 Titans training camp, Haynesworth kicked center Justin Hartwig, now with Carolina. Charges for a road rage incident earlier this year were dismissed.
But the stomping, showed repeatedly in television replays, has brought nearly unanimous condemnation, the unprecedented suspension and possibly criminal charges and a civil lawsuit.
Nashville police and the district attorney contacted the Cowboys' general counsel Monday, offering their assistance to Gurode in prosecuting Haynesworth. The Cowboys declined to comment on the suspension.
Rangers to sort through issues tonight …
Return of the Brett Favre Theory
First, a review of the “Brett Favre Theory” since I feel Brett is spending plenty of time being overly loved by some announcers (Theismann) when he doesn’t deserve it, and overly hated by media types in reaction to the excessive love that the first group of announcers give him. I have even heard some suggest that he was never that great (including that bozo, Mike Greenberg on ESPN), and is just a guy with numbers who the media created.
He is (for now) the only NFL Player to win 3 MVP’s.
He is (in theory) soon to be the all time touchdown leader. (18 more)
He is (in theory) soon to be the all time leader in wins by a QB. (8 more which may take 3 years at this rate).
So there is substance to his accomplishments. But, the lightning rod he has become with the media is pretty interesting stuff.
Here is what I wrote the morning after the 2006 Rose Bowl when USC lost to Texas which is the only place I could find previous writings of this theory…
I am not here to gang up on USC this morning. But I think we have the “Brett Favre theory” at work here. It isn’t Brett Favre’s fault that the media is so in love with him. He didn’t ask for it, and he likely is embarrassed by it. But, many people want to hate Favre because they are tired of being told that he walks on water. Same goes for USC. They didn’t ask for the adulation they have received. They just played and won a lot of big games, and in doing so, the masses lost historical perspective (even Miami from 2000-2003 has as good a case for being just as good a dynasty) and rushed to suggest USC could win the Super Bowl. Therefore, I was extra pleased to see them slowly walk off the field disgusted.
So, I understand when the non-fans enjoy it when he fails. Let’s just not get too carried away with the media crack-back. They aren’t losing now because of their Quarterback. They are losing because they are a talent-starved franchise that has deficiencies nearly everywhere on the field.
Oh, well. I am done. And, yes, I did name my kid "Brett" if that offers you some insight on my leanings...
Modano out as captain
I realized I have not wrote anything about this, and because of football we haven’t spent much time on it, so here are a few thoughts on the recent promotion of Brendan Morrow to captain, which left Mike Modano as a demoted captain.
The message sent across the nation is loud and clear. Mike Modano did not get it done. Whether this is true is not important. The message is what it is, and the Stars management basically pulled his pants down in public.
Now, does this bother Mike? I have not talked to him, so I am only guessing. I have said all along that I don’t think he ever aspired to be captain, and that he may not ever be right for the job, really. But, when Derian Hatcher left the team, it became obvious that they felt there was no other choice and I couldn’t argue with them.
But, once you make him the captain, and once he does everything he can to grow into the role, to then strip him of that honor sits oddly with me. I have to guess that Mike feels the same way since he is a competitor and because he did everything he was asked to do. But because the team did not perform in the post-season, his tenure is thought of as a failure. Is it fair? It doesn’t matter that Marty Turco was a sieve and that many players did not show. It appears that Stars management feel that the one major change that was needed was to change the on-ice leader since the coach, GM, goalie and pretty much everything else is the same save for allowing a couple free agents to leave.
I love Mike, and if this angers him, then it angers me. But, he is too classy to ever admit anything like that on the record. His entire run in Dallas has been classy. He has never brought embarrassment to the franchise in any way on or off the ice, so the fact that they decided this was the time to pull the letter off his chest and expect us all to accept it is concerning to me.
We all saw Brendan as a future captain in a year or two. But, the Stars made this decision 5 days before the season starts, and now, we are left to wonder if this will cause an issue in the room. Will Mike be in a funk? Will certain players be angry with Doug Armstrong? Time will tell. It seems like an unnecessary risk to take to me.
Links:
Since this is being done at night, I have no real morning links for you, but I do have This week’s entry from the Cowboys Dark Side correspondent …
Money Tracking funsite …
Fire Truck! Fire Truck! .. I think my son has started his writing career
FDNY Hockey website …
And, plenty of email on Aggie Football, many of it from actual Aggies:
Bob-
I heard Tom's inexplicable defense of CDF on Monday afternoon's show and almost swerved off the road and hit a tree. Tom's opinion is 180 degrees from that of 99.99% of A&M's alumni base, who deem CDF's record utterly 100% indefensible. By way of example, here is what $2500 per year for two grossly overpriced seats has bought me:
1-9 versus Tech, UT, and OU. End of debate, but let's continue just for grins...
20-20 overall record, including this year's 4 laughable non-conference games.
11 losses (in 40 games) of 20 or more points.
Overall Big 12 record: 10-13 with an average loss of 22 points.
Big 12 South record 5-9 with an average loss by 21 points.
2005 pass defense ranked 119th...119th!!!!...in the country.
Average loss is 23.35 points per game.
Worst loss in A&M history. (77-0 to OU).
Worst loss to Tech in A&M history. (56-17)
Worst bowl loss in A&M history (Tennessee).
Lost to Baylor. Baylor! And it should be two in a row!!
Blown out by Utah.
Blown out by Colorado.
Blown out by Iowa State.
We are now into year 4 of this misery. How can anyone possibly go on a major market radio station and defend this man's record with a straight face?
Dave Dunn
---
I know you are going to slam those corps guys are your show tomorrow. Just please keep in mind that the corps is about 4% of the student body but gets 99% of the attention. Whatever the hell they were doing Saturday was flat out embarrasing. The TV cameras always focus on the corps as if that is the entire student body. Frankly most of my Aggie friends and I hate it.
I'm sure you'll get several e-mail explanation of the squeeze "tradition" from some old corps guys trying to rationalize it. There is no excuse for what we saw Saturday. I was in front of the TV with friends from other schools and I just had to step up and say "Gay". I know the Corps for some reason is still the face of A&M, just keep in kind that for the vast majority of us, they just seem to add more embarrassment than pride.
Kind of like our football coach.
-John
p.s. Please stop letting Tom try to defend A&M. He is too defensive and comes off looking like an idiot.
---
Bob,
No doubt you have received this before, but the numbers don’t lie. Fran has been a complete disaster.
Keep up the good work.
Mark in Lake Highlands
Fran at A&M:
20-20 overall record
7-6 vs. Big 12 opponents at Kyle Field
Overall Big 12 record: 10-15
Big 12 South record 5-11
1-9 against Tech, Texas and OU
Lost to every Big 12 team, except for KU/KSU, at least once
Lost to every Big 12 team, except for KU/KSU/Baylor, by at least 20 points
3-13 record on the road
3-13 record vs. Top 25 teams.
2006 – Sophomore Graham Harrell passed for a career high 392 yards after averaging 292 in the first 4 games of the season
2005 – Worst pass defense in the country
2005 - Barrick Nealy passed for 378 yards. He averaged 192 yards passing the rest of the season against I-AA competition.
2005 - Joel Klatt passed for more yards in one quarter than any QB in Colorado history.
2005 - Allan Evridge threw for a career high 357 yards. He averaged 126 ypg in 8 other games that season.
First WR to ever catch 4 TD passes against A&M. (Todd Blythe - 2005)
Worst loss in A&M history. (77-0)
Worst loss to Tech in A&M history. (56-17 in 2005)
Worst bowl loss in our history
First loss ever to Iowa State.
First losing season since 1982 (Sherrill’s first season)
First loss to Baylor since 1985
11 losses of 20 or more points
Before Fran the Aggies hadn’t lost by 20 or more at home since December 1,
1988 (L to Arkansas 10-30):
Oklahoma state ‘03 (10-38)
Texas ‘03 (15-46)
Iowa State ’05 (14-42)
---
As a class of ’90 Ag (the Jackie and RC years) here is my 2 cents on “Coach Fran”.
1) He is a sand bagger. His first year, he redshirted virtually all of his young talent. This left him with a lousy but overlooked first season and established the precedent that made 7-5 in year 2 look good enough for an extension. Year 3 it clearly caught up with him but the schedule this should allow him another opportunity to look good.
2) Anything less that 8-4 before the bowl game should be considered a complete disaster. That allows him losses to Tech (done), Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas. That will also mean that he finishes no better than 4th in the Big 12 South.
3) A&M is clearly no better than the 4th best team in Texas and possibly the 5th best behind Texas, TCU, Tech and possibly UTEP (remember, Tech needed overtime to beat them). Coach Fran fans need to think about that when as they start defending him.
Thank You,
John Monroe
Youtube:
Angry Professor - :36
Kid can play – 3:37
Bledsoe picked off by Burger King
16 comments:
tardy but still 1st!
Hey, hey, hey, I like to stomp me some grillz!
Bob - I know that soccer dribbling looks pretty cool but something tells me that isn't real. A couple of the bounces have some odd looking movements coming off of his foot. If someone had a gun to my head, I'd say it's a fake.
Seems karma is biting Francione in the backside, with all those "stellar" stats quoted above.
I'm sure the Alabama and TCU fans are getting a good laugh out of it all...
Aggie is getting a beatdown on Deadspin and Fark for the Corp jewel-grabbing video. Personally I think they're practising for the upcoming performance of The Nutcracker Suite.
It looked to me like they were preparing for the inevitable nut punch on Tech's game winning TD.
Bob,
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was always under the impression that the players chose who would be captain. That it was a locker room vote. If that is true, don't you think that there are enough players in there who are loyal to Modano that even if they think Morrow is a better captain wouldn't vote against Modano because of the potential for embarassment? When I heard this the first thing that popped into my mind is that Modano voluntarilly stepped down as captain, that he was uncomfortable with the position in the first place and knew that Morrow was a better locker room leader and the captain of the future, so why not let him take over now. Modano wanted to go back to where he main concerns were scoring goals and dating hot chicks. I don't think there is anyway that either the team or Doug Armstrong would remove Modano from the captaincy unless he wanted to be removed for the possible problems it would cause that you've listed above. Anyway, I just don't see it as that big of a deal.
Merkin.
Its a lot easier (although still hard) to do tricks with a ball when you put some helium in it so that it takes minimal force to put it in the air.
i'll have you know that interception wasn't bledsoe's fault!
That prof is my new hero. I wanted to do that a couple of times in college.
Where's the discussion of Oklahoma vs. Oregon?
Sure looked like The King to me. At least in the latest one he offers Holt a Whopper after taking him out going over the middle.
Oklahoma got ripped off, man!
Do any of y'all know what the hell Norm does for a living?
"knew that Morrow was a better locker room leader"
Where does this idea come from? Every time Morrow is interviewed, he says he's not a vocal leader but one who let's his play on the ice speak. This is the same thing Modano did. I think the real difference is in lifestyle, where Modano does not fit in. He seems to be more aloof, which goes against management's desire for a team that bonds like a family.
"His Stars teams were marked by a distinct lack of intestinal fortitude, and, for as much as he's done for the team here, he's right at the top of the list as far as blame is concerned."
How about forwards that vanished when they were needed? How about a timely save from Turco once in a while? How about a defense that was overrated and more often than not, out of position? It seems like the blame can be spread around more, and I sure as heck don't see Modano at the top of that list. And these issues aren't going to change with the captaincy. As a fan though, I can only hope.
I like the idea of Morrow being captain, but it seems like it could have been timed better(off-season). But people will always choose their whipping boys, like Modano, Niinimaa, Kapanen(Bob!), etc, whether they deserve it or not. Personally, I think Morrow has cement for hands, but I will always cheer for him.
last post at 1:06, subject: hockey
Interesting. That was an ender.
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