Show Recap - Monday August 02, 2010

USC is down right now, and people are getting in line to bust them in the mouth. Hall of Famer Troy Aikman, of course, played at UCLA and says, quote: “I realize why we could never beat S.C. We didn’t steal any coaches from the NFL.”

Hey-O! Pretty funny, but the one guy who’s not laughing is the guy who had his coach stolen, Jeff Fisher. I asked the Titans head coach what he thought of Lane Kiffin saying the Titans’ lawsuit was probably just a Tennessee thing and motivated in part by how he left the Vols…and Fisher couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

I then asked Fisher what would he have said if Kiffin had asked for permission to speak to Kennedy Pola. He’s right. Jeff Fisher isn’t here to keep guys down or prevent them from moving up. But you probably don’t want to ask permission to speak about an assistant a week before training camp opens…which is probably why Kiffin didn’t. He already knew the answer…or is completely oblivious.... More »

It may seem like the year of the pitcher in Major League Baseball. But what it really is, is the year of the stupid baseball injury. While there have been 5 no hitters, there have been nearly twice as many, over the top absurd injuries. And now you can add this one to the list: Rays reliever Grant Balfour will be on the shelf for 4-6 weeks after….wait for it…he got hurt ‘wrasslin’ with his pitching coach Jim Hickey. Uh-oh!

Hickey must have put him in a ‘Boston crab’ or a ‘figure 4’ or something. Really fellas? I can see a couple of college players killing some beers at a frat party on a Saturday night and going knucklehead…but a couple of professionals? At a major league ballpark?!

Can you imagine how that conversation must have gone with Joe Maddon. ‘Yo skip, bad news, we lost Balfour for 4-6 weeks.’ ‘Great! A shoulder, an elbow, what?’ ‘Nah, Joe, we were wrestling during BP and I jacked the guy up pretty bad. My bad.... More »

Bad break for the Dallas Cowboys who lost Dez Bryant for 4-6 weeks with a high ankle sprain. And no sooner than it happened, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones pointed the finger at his coaching staff, quote: “The key thing is you ask yourself, ‘Are we pushing him too hard? Does it happen at the end of practice when the players are tired?’...You generally are more prone to injury when you’re tired.”

I’m going to side with Bum’s son on this one. That’s not a fatigue injury or a young player unaccustomed to an NFL workload, whose body just gave out. He didn’t sprain his ankle running stadium steps after practice. Philips didn’t get him dinged putting him through a set of up-downs. Jason Garrett didn’t dial up 10 straight 9 routes after practice just to see what the ‘rook’ was made of.

The back up QB threw the ball behind him, he got locked up with a DB and just went down. It happens all the time. If you want to blame your coaches for anything,... More »

The biggest training camp battle taking place right is Mike Shanahan v. Albert Haynesworth. And it’s going very badly for Haynesworth. He skipped his conditioning test for the third straight day, still hasn’t practiced…and wont be allowed to until he passes that test.

So the question stands…is Shanahan just looking to jam the guy and mess with him after he skipped the offseason conditioning program and tried to force a trade? Or is Haynesworth getting what he deserves. The answer is…yes, of course Shanahan is messing with him. There was no doubt he was going to make him take that conditioning test and even less doubt he’d fail him when he did.

As for Haynesworth, you can’t fail the test if you don’t take the test and if he had shown up and done all the work his teammates did, he wouldn’t have had to. It’s really not too much to ask of a guy making $100 mill. Neither is actually passing the test, if you do have to take it. And I don’t want... More »

Info & Stats: Cincinatti Bengals Head Coach

Marvin’s thoughts on rookie quarterback Andy Dalton: ‘He’s a wonderful young man and he’s very smart.”

Topics: Game against Baltimore | Playoffs | Teams mindset | Continuing to get better | Nate Clements making the Playoffs for the first time | The younger players listening to Nate | Adding key guys | The veterans showing the young guys how to prepare this week | Playoff week | Needing to play fast | Marvin coming back this season | Leadership on this team | Always thinking you have a shot at the Playoffs | Maintaining that edge | Starting fresh | Andy Dalton | Dalton in the Playoffs | Dalton is sick today | Dalton going home to play in his first game |

Info & Stats: Green Bay Packers Tight End

Jermichael on playing in Green Bay weather: “Your mind has to be right.”

Topics: 3 Touchdown catches against Chicago | #YOTTO | Year Of The Take Over | Being injured last season and not being apart of the Super Bowl run | Coming back from injury | Rehab | The rehab was one of the hardest things he’s ever been through | Staff infection | Nice to score 3 Touchdowns against the Bears | Aaron Rodgers comments | Rodgers is touching the ball every snap | 3-0 | It’s hard to get wins | Maturity | Moving to Green Bay | 1st impressions of Green Bay | It was a change coming from Austin | The weather in Green Bay | Your mind has to be right to play in this weather |

Info & Stats: St. Louis Rams Running Back

Topics: Last year may have been his best year | Proud of his performance | Compete at a high level so young guys see it | Why compete so hard for one win | Mentality is to go out and play on | What a true pro does | Never expressed frustration | Be a stand up guy | Fans are used to winning | Buying into the Rams plans | Signed on to win a Super Bowl | Back surgery concerns | Stronger than ever | African trip taking in World Cup | Safari elephant story | Standoff with a huge elephant | Going on a shark dive in Capetown | 18 foot long great white shark | Not something he would ever do again | Adrenaline rush being a risk taker | More nervous than Sundays in the NFL