Cam Newton is currently leading all combine participants in the intangible known as “swagger”
The NFL Scouting Combine has been airing for the past few days on NFL Network. I’m always fascinated by the process of evaluating these college football players who are competing to impress NFL personnel into drafting the player early thereby ensuring a significant payday. After all, it’s dolla dolla bill, y’all. What fascinates me about the combine and also the draft are the same reasons my favorite part of the Madden NFL games is always the offseason portion. It’s building a team through player evaluation that gets my high motor going.
Cliches abound at the draft. It’s what sport, and I guess life, fall back on. Two terms I hear thrown around a lot are measurables and intangibles. I’m not saying there’s no value in those terms because there is. I’m saying they’re cliched because people throw the terms around a lot. Sunday at the combine was the day the quarterbacks, running backs, and wide receivers were evaluated on the field, and I took special notice of how two wide receivers were being analyzed by the NFL Network crew. On most draft boards the two highest-rated receivers are A.J. Green and Julio Jones. From what I’ve seen on the field and yesterday in the drills I understand why those two are the highest rated. They are both outstanding athletes, although Julio Jones stood way out from Green in the drills yesterday. He “jumped out of the gym” as one NFL Network analyst put it. (I think it was Rich Eisen.) He did jump out of the gym. You saw his natural athletic ability in a measurable and impressive way. To be honest he kind of put Green and the other wide receivers to shame. These guys aren’t compared solely on the basis of who has the fastest 40 yard dash time or who broad jumps the furthest, though. That would be ridiculous. Mike Mayock does a good job of guiding the discussion when the people on set are talking about players. He often says things like, “go back to the tape.” He’s right, because if you drafted players on paper then Julio Jones would be the highest receiver taken, no question. The problem is I still think A.J Green is a better receiver and a better pro prospect. You have to go back to the tape to see the difference in these players, though. (more…)
Welcome again folks to a Danger Guerrero presents the Gally Blog Podcast featuring Danger Guerrero and some other guys presentation. This week, we talk about The Super Bowl results and our MVP’s, Troy Polamalu, the NFL lockout, next season’s predicted NFL champions, a UFC 126 wrapup, a game of Sex Act or Hackers and as always, Danger Guerrero.
I think we’ve fixed the noise settings that plagued last week’s episode, but it’s still a work in progress so bear with us. Enjoy muchachos.
[Edit: Our feed is updating so I'll post the iTunes link once that has finished.]
Below the jump is the picture we rambled on about.
Last Call isn’t just a place for sexy people, cheesecake, hot music and the best links on the Internet. No, it’s a place for all you like-minded readers and commenters to congregate and hang out. Sadly it’s gone from the place where all the cool kids hung out after school to a place in disrepair that is neglected by the cool kids who are too cool to hang out. We’ll keep doing them, but they might get scaled back at some point in the future. Let us know if you have any suggestions.
Musical Interlude:
Linkage:
Oatmeal: The top 10 worst types of interviewees. The New Yorker: Paul Haggis was in The Church of Scientology for 35 years. He got out and wrote a billion awesome words denouncing it. The Oatmeal: Yeah, two Oatmeal articles in one day. Deal with it. This one is on the worst types of questions to receive in a Interview. Phys Org: Admit it, you’ve always wanted to know whether snakes evolved from land lizards or ocean fairing ones. Well, now you know the rest of the story. Fan House: All of the Super Bowl ads in one convenient place. Wooo media whore mongering. Warming Glow: Ufford interview’s the owner of the lovable Lobster Dog. If you don’t know what Lobster Dog is, you can kindly remove yourself form the premises. Mmkay? Salon: It appears that people are choosing sanity over sex by taking anti-depressants which often lower ones libido. Draft Day Suit: Tired of all the rambling about the Super Bowl? Well how about some ramblings about curling? Eh? Eh? Wink wink nudge nudge. Sarah Sprague: Did you miss any of Sarah’s amazing Super Bowl recipes? Well, here they are all in one convenient location.
Butterscotch Banana Cheesecake with Raspberry Coulis:(more…)
This is your weekly NFL betting guide written by the rubiest rube of all rubes, Nonpopulist. I have been making my own NFL lines since 2005, and while I am no expert I would rate myself as an above average prognosticator/ handicapper. The Rubetastic post will be a mixture of picking against Vegas lines, insight into why I think a line was set a certain way, what my own lines are and how I came to those lines, overall NFL betting trends I notice, apologies about being completely wrong the prior week, and a disclaimer that the post is all for fun and you assume all risk when betting on the advice of some jackhole on the internet.
Super Bowl week! It’s the most wonderful time of year! So magical. Sports writers and television personalities regale us with tales of weather, hotel continental breakfasts, and other stories central to the actual game.
Let’s look back quickly at my Championship game picks.
Green Bay -3.5 @ Chicago: RIGHT. I don’t think the score would have been all that different if Cutler had been able to play the whole game. The Packers may have even won by more than they did. Green Bay was just top-down a better team. Clay Matthews disease gives him super human powers that are hard to contain.
New York Jets + 3.5 @ Pittsburgh Steelers: WRONG. I don’t quite know what to say about this pick. I was less confident in it, but I thought the Jets defense would make the difference in this game. The game was too big for the Jets. Their play didn’t live up to their gameplan either.
On to the extravaganza!
Since neither team has cheerleaders I picked one of my favorites from this past NFL season.
One of the most interesting aspects of the Super Bowl is all of the prop bets. You can place bets on whether the coin toss lands on heads or tails (which I have bet on before), the over/under on the length of the national anthem, who will win the MVP and a host of other ways you can lose money. Go here for a complete list of action, but I’ll be highlighting some below plus picking against the actual spread as usual.
How Long will it take Christina Aguilera to Sing the Star Spangled Banner (from starting note to last note sung) Under/Over 1:54: I know what you’re thinking, suckers bet, right? There’s money to be made here. I looked up videos of Aguilera on Youtube singing the national anthem. I saw some over a minute and fifty-four seconds and some under. I tended toward more recent performances and I’m sold on the under on this one. I think she’ll embellish a little less than in her performances at the NBA Finals. Well, I should say the NFL event people will gently suggest she embellish less. This should be a classier performance since it will likely be one of the most watched things on television ever. It’s not about you, X-tina.
Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Without further waiting, we present to you the debut Gally Blog Podcast. In this meandering episode, Phillip(@nonpopulist), Hugh(@THElogic) and myself talk about stuff. Mostly sports. We open with a shoutout to the mysterious @DangerGuerrero, move on to the Super Bowl, talk about Deadspin and then drift into random ramblings. We apologize for the length, but it’s our first time and we didn’t know what to expect. Enjoy and feel free to give us feedback..
P.S. I’m aware I sound like a husky 15 year old girl. No need to include that in the feedback.
03 Feb, 2011 | Author: Old King Clancy | 3 Comments »
Yeah, so it’s February and most anybody who’s anybody posted their Top 10 TV Shows of 2010 near the end of 2010. When it felt like a flood and you couldn’t remember whose was whose. Well, consider mine “fashionably late.” Because if there’s one thing that Old King Clancy is, it’s fashionable. I’m also now the second member of this collective to post his picks. You can find Nonpopulist’s Top 15 here at his own site, and yeah, there’s a lot of crossover with mine. Hey, at least I beat Gally, who’s been too busy emo twittering to post his. And well, you can just assume that Logic’s are “The Ultimate Fighter” and Dane Cook specials.
As a standard disclaimer, like anyone that’s not a paid TV critic, I can only rank what I’ve actually seen. I haven’t seen any of the AMC shows that top everyone’s lists – Mad Men and Breaking Bad. Maybe by next year I’ll have Netflixed that shit so I actually can see it. I don’t have HBO so I’ve never seen Boardwalk Empire. Never seen Lost, which is a long story. Don’t watch Sons of Anarchy. Just heard of Archer a couple weeks ago and it’s not on Netflix streaming anymore, but last week’s was awesome. And a few of my favorite shows (30 Rock and HIMYM) had very uneven years so they didn’t make it. Point being, can’t judge your favorite show if I’ve never seen it, so get off my dick. Unless you’re Kristen Bell. Anyway, let’s get down to business. Tell your disappointment to suck it; we’re having a TV party tonight!
Last Call isn’t just a place with the best links the Internet has to offer, sexy people and good music. No, it’s also a place to gather with like minded people and bitch about your day, rant about your favorite sports team or tell dirty jokes in the comment section. If you’re new here, welcome and stay away from the ficus. If you’ve been here before, you know the drill.
Musical Interlude:
Linkage:
Mashable: Why Social Media is bringing back the values of our Grandparents. Joe Posnanski: The Pro Bowl gets a bad rap a lot of the time. Joe talks about how he concurs that it doesn’t matter, but that he’ll watch it anyways. Wil Wheaton: Wil talks about why librarians are awesome, and why we should save libraries. Edmonton Journal: Apparently social networking leads to couples having sex sooner. 27bslash6: David receives terrible, terrible customer service and responds hilariously. Read Write Web: A graphical description of the Twitterverse. Phys Org: Research shows that there’s a biochemical reaction between music and emotion. Baltimore Sun: David Simon, the brilliance behind The Wire and others, responds to criticism from a top cop. Real Food For Life: Men married to smarter women live longer. Marc And Angel: 10 simple truths smart people forget. I’m assuming you assholes that read here are smart.. Playboy: It’s almost at the point where you can no longer vote for the lovely(and sweet) Shera Bechard(featured below) to be Playmate of The Year. You know, if you’re into attractive naked women or what have you.
White Chocolate Cheesecake with Cherry Gastrique:(more…)
The live blog will commence 30 minutes before the final starts, so show up here at 3AM EST when you get home from the bar for drunken, rambling tennis analysis. Then crack open a beer and enjoy the jokes
Back when I wrote my Aussie Open preview, I had Federer over Djokovic in the final (before I knew what the bracket was. Obviously that was an impossibility). One of those men has made it, but Andy Murray joins Djokovic in his second Aussie Open final in a row.
Djokovic has had the more impressive run through the tournament. He ran through Tomas Berdych, who had dominated, in straight sets. Then he ran through Roger Federer in straight sets. He has an Australian Open title in 2008, and it’s clear that this has always been his favorite grand slam event. He is serving well, returning well, moving well, and his backhand is as good as I have ever seen it. He looks ready to move Federer out of the top two in the world.
But to make this preview all about the Djoker would overlook Andy Murray, who is playing like a champion in his own right. Even though he is the 5th seed in this tournament, I have been saying for over a year now that he is the 3rd best player in the world. And it might be true, it’s just that he still might not be as good as Djokovic right now. Still, it’s tough to judge how well Murray has played so far, given that he avoided having to play both Soderling and Nadal. Instead, he dispatched the young Ukrankain Alexandr Dolgopolov in the quarters and David Ferrer in the semis. But before anyone discounts the Ferrer win, Ferrer is maybe the best defensive player on tour right now, and while Murray usually stuck with his own defensive style, his offense, when he unleashed it, was too much for the Spaniard. I think that Djokovic will have trouble dealing with it as well.
And as good as Berdych and Federer are, neither is the type of counterpuncher that Murray is. Djokovic loves Australia, but Murray has said that this slam has his favorite surface as well. I think it will be a tough final, but in the end I see Andy Murray becoming the first British man to win a grand slam since Fred Perry way back in 1936.
For those of you up late tonight, we will be live-blogging the Mens final. We do hope you stop by. P.S. The final starts at 3:30AM EST tonight.
Cam Newton is currently leading all combine participants in the intangible known as “swagger”
