Football
Still waiting for that ‘Bama line to move to 7……
Where’s everyone stand on the Super Bowl winner? New England is a little less than 2-1 and that doesn’t tickle me fancy much. Green Bay at 7-1 is far more interesting to me but that’s assuming their guys are healthy and they seemed to be picked off pretty bad yesterday. But Aaron Rodgers is incredible. He can do almost anything.
Speaking of great qb’s, I used to scoff at anyone who said Joe Montana WASN’T the greatest QB of all time. I’ve since softened my stance a lot on that. Did you know that Joe never threw for 4,000 yards? That’s like finding out Will Clark never had 200 hits in a season. Both are miraculously true.
Even if Brady doesn’t win it all this year I think it’s not outrageous to say he’s the best of all time…….
Chiefs at 9-1? You have no idea how badly I want to see Alex Smith win a Super Bowl. I might even un-block Denny if that happens…….
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Too funny re Dennis. Yeah I’d love to see KC win. Love them since the Otis Taylor Len Dawson days. But they have an equally improbable chance as Green Bay.
Unfortunately one of the teams I hate (Dallas, Pitts, Seattle, NE) will win.
Atl is a dark horse. If they can beat Seattle they have a pretty good shot. I haven’t seen them play much tho.
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Go Clemson! I fucking hate “Bama.” Nick S, and the Crimson Tide can suck on it.
I am pulling for a Chefs-Packers super bowl, and hoping the Pack wins it all (my daughter is a big cheese head – ex and her family is from Wisconsin), and I dig the NorCal (high school and college for Rodgers) connection. But, if the Chefs won, I would be down with that too, as it would be cool to see Alex win one.
Only 35 daze until pitchers and catchers report – play ball bitches!
Let’s see Brady, Rogers play in the 80s when WRs were allowed to get mugged, and QBs were regularly pancaked with no penalty. Brady can sidestep now in pocket, but has no escapability, he’d be in the hospital if he played in the 80s. Remember that Montana won 2 Super Bowls before Jerry Rice showed up, with wideouts no better than Brady’s gang. Remember Mike Shuman? And the Niners then had to go every yer thru a playoffs gauntlet of Giants, Skins, and/or Dallas to get to the SB…
Yeah, Shuman was a better radio sports guy than a WR. I always enjoyed him when he did sports updates on the Frank and Mike morning show.
I am still pissed about that Hail Mary by the Pack. My oldest kid had a die-hard Packer fan buddy drove up the day before to go to the game and he was recording from the upper deck on the side of the field where he they caught the Hail Mary…fun video to see.
But that changed the whole game even though the Pack spanked some ass that second half. I am still rooting for the Falcons-Chiefs matchup…and go Clemson. Need to get more money back…
The only reason to watch tonight (since I haven’t put any money on it) is to see if Deshaun Watson is worth a 2nd round pick.
QB play in the NFL has been sidelined by a lot of mediocrity.
I still say Montana, not hands down any more, is the best ever. Not only not losing a Super Bowl, the Pats were big favorites in those two loses to the Giants. Montana managed three big wins pretty easily. I still think those Niners teams would beat any of those 4 winning Pats teams, i.e. first Niner super bowl team would have beaten the first Pat super bowl winning team.
But I am starting to think that Bellichek may deservedly have passed Walsh as greatest coach ever…
When I was spending a lot of time in Birmingham on business a few years back it was incredible how much love there still is for Bear Bryant. Everything from banks to schools, bear (pun intended) his name. There are a lot of Bama fans that do not want to see Saban break his record for most national championships. If they win tonight (and ties the Bear), a lot of folks in that part of the country are going to quietly hope he steps aside. If that doesn’t tell you a thing or two about the Deep South…
Belichick has the pleasure of not having an owner that was certifiably nuts.
For all the great things that Eddie D did for the team, and there were a lot of them, riding (and mentally beating) Bill Walsh like a rented mule wasn’t one of them. Walsh got out of coaching the 49ers specifically because of Eddie D’s numerous firings and screaming matches. Walsh was depressed and burned out by his own expectations, but Eddie D added a lot of fuel to the fire.
Speaking of the Browns, hard to beat Otto Graham for the mantle of best ever. He played when the rules were markedly different and QBs called their own plays. He was in the championship game 10 years in a row, and won 7 of them. Automatic Otto.
The thing about those Niners teams of the 180s was their outstanding defense.
The play vs. the NY Giants in the playoffs when Jim Burt hit Montana on the chin with his helmet was a legal play in those days. Montana was carried out on a stretcher. The NFL was scary in those days. Theisman getting his leg snapped by Lawrence Taylor, etc.
Coincidentally, Burt later, of course, played on the ’89 championship Niner team.
And Deacon Jones, et al, noted in the 80s how soft the NFL was. They talked about the lawlessness of the 1950s-60s-70s NFL where clothesline tackles, forearm shivers, and the like were legal.
Excellent point. As I alluded to yesterday – although the players were smaller back than, they were ferocious. Equally important, many were studs who played both ways on defense and offense.
New England has the current NFL figured out very well. I give them credit for that. It’s kind of a flag-football league now, a lot like the college game. Lots and lots of passes, and the run used mainly to keep defenses honest. Not all teams are like that, but NE, with Brady, has it down very well.
Belichick certainly is up there in the top 2-3 for having done this for so long at such a high level. Like Walsh though, his greatness is absolutely tied to his QB. Both would have been good at what they do, but neither would have the glory they have without their QBs.
The thing about NE is a lot of the new rules around QBs, WRs, and the passing game in general are directly tied to Brady and NE as well.
Funny thing about looking at the 1979 draft that netted Joe Montana in the 3rd round. I keep forgetting we got Dwight Clark in the 10th round that year . . .
Yeah, the Niners D in mid 80s was nails. Chuck can weigh in, but has there ever been a better D backfield than Lott, Hicks, Wright, Williamson? And Fuller! Cover and hammer the run. Maybe the mid late 70s Raiders and Steelers were as good in that area. Let Brady go up against those guys with Fred Dean and crew coming off the line…
Remember, Marino was supposed to carve up the Niners at the Super Bowl at Stanford. The game was over at halftime and Marino was looking for new Isotoners. That was before the arrival of Rice and Taylor…
Yeah Tom Brady has a few Super Bowl rings and is married to Gisele, but Giovanni Carmazzi owns goats.
I’m guessing the goats are just a little less high maintenance…
Lulz…
What snarkk said . . . Montana. Was. The. Best. Not even a question in my mind. In fact, I like Rodgers over Brady in that discussion.
Same deal with Walsh, who basically gave a free Superbowl away to Seifert. Genius Walsh over boring, monotone, hoodie “fashion plate” Belichick 7 ways from Sunday. I can’t remember the last time the Bills, Jets, or Dolphins were competitive in the AFC East. Again, snarkk correctly pointed this out yesterday. To me, Lombardi, Landry, Shula, and Parcells (Belichick’s boss at one time) all ahead of Belichick . . . Oh, also he was a cheater, just like Brady.
I mean, if the only assessment is % of SB success, then yes I’d still go with Joe, too. But Brady has done it longer than Montana and has consistently put up better passing stats than Montana. Go look at Joe’s career stats. He was an interception machine.
It’s all subjective. Montana is my guy still. Stats to me are totally irrelevant, insofar as today’s game is concerned compared to Montana’s era. I just read what Zumiee said about today’s game, “It’s kind of a flag-football league now, a lot like the college game. Lots and lots of passes, and the run used mainly to keep defenses honest.” I think that is a fair assessment.
Regardless, like I said – it’s all subjective and can’t be proved one way or another. So, my opinion is just that, another opinion.
I probably still share the same opinion, lol. It’s just not as cut and dried for me as it used to be. Maybe if Brady had a shorter career. And Rodgers, that guy is just freaking unreal what he can do.
“The Raiders of old were vicious and crazy and cruel. Hanging around their locker room was like hanging around the weight room at Folsom Prison.” – Hunter S. Thompson
Gold!
G-Head– I’m dying to know if you bet on tonight’s game. Tell me you aren’t napping through this bet.
If he hadn’t been a physical wreck, Namath might’ve been right there with those guys…
Sure.
Speaking of stats, Brodie’s were better than Namath’s. And Brodie played on infinitely shittier teams his whole career. It wasn’t till 1970 that they got good. By 1973 he was done.
If only he made it to the super bowl he’d be in.
Thing about Montana is 0 ints in 4 Super Bowls.
Can anyone explain to me how Jose Pagan finished 11th in the 1962 NL MVP vote?
http://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/awards_1962.shtml#NLmvp
I guess everyone hates Peyton Manning. I know I do.
Bradshaw also 4-4 in SB…
Time sure is flying. Chuck’s daily countdowns to Spring Training suddenly appear very near. Despite several media sources saying that Bobby Evans has said the roster is pretty much set, Chris Haft on the Giants MLB page now is writing about the high possibility of a “bold move” up to and during Spring Training, focusing on adding a real 3bagger and a real LFer. I still think they will make such a move. Just not sure how bold it will actually be.
Sorry, that should’ve read a real 3bagger OR a real LFer, not both…
Who would you rather have?
Eduardo Nunez or Matt Duffy
Neither, as a starter. Duffy looked promising that first year, but not sure it was sustainable. Nunez, need more time to see over the long term, certainly has flash and spark potential at times, anyway. But really, I don’t think either are topnotch starters. Wondering if the front office is waiting on Arroyo.
Nunie > Duffy all day long. And if we didn’t get Nunie we wouldn’t have pulled the trigger shortly thereafter on Matt Moore and it would be inconceivable to argue against that trade at this point. I would think. Feel free to argue against it though and I will listen
Agree. I’m lovin’ the starting rotation going into ST and the season, even with the 5th starter still uncertain, in an almost exciting kind of way… But yeah, Duffy was likely not going to be THE starting solution at 3rd. Nunez is sort of like the infield version of Pagan, some inconsistencies, but a potential spark plug.
If Stix is somehow free, he should get an all expenses paid trip to the next Flapalooza…
I agree with Flav, I prefer Nunez over the Duffster.
everyone has to look at the big picture. Without Nunie, we don’t get Moore. And the addition of Moore makes the “Duffy or Nunie?” talk almost moot. Moore is a total stud left handed pitcher. Those don’t grow on trees.
I wasn’t Duffy’s biggest fan, especially when they batted him way too high in the order, but he’s 4 years younger than Nunie, makes less money, better glove, runs almost as well, and was a beloved teammate.
This is just BS talk, but I bet the Giants would do that swap in a nuno-second…
Agree with Loo – I want Duffy over Nunez. However, the trade was Moore for Duffy, Fox (people forget that), and Santos. So, the Giants have a stud pitcher and the Rays are hoping that Duffy’s Achilles surgery was successful and he can come back next season, while Fox and Santos continue to develop. In short, the Giants are winning that trade so far.
Dave Winfield never had 200 hits in a season either and he had over 3,000 in his career.
Fun fact: He was born the day of Bobby Thomson’s homer…
San Diggity gonna love this one
Like Aaron never hitting 50 bombs in a season.
Clemson is one of the dumber college teams I’ve seen play this year. Happy to not be involved in this one financially.
Here’s my problem with college football. Best teams in the country run dumb ass read option plays that don’t work and a simple run up the middle gets 59 yards and a TD. The Bama QB has not thrown a pass over 6 yards. No wonder college QBs are so hard to figure. No one plays a pro set anymore.
Clemsons punter doesn’t understand how to punt. He’s been punting 20 yards a clip. Thank God Baalke snt around to draft him.
The Walsh offense was all about moving the chains and keeping the ball moving downfield. His passes were basically long handoffs. It was about getting the runner in space. He also had a good run game by 84.
Montana didn’t need to throw for 4000 yards. Marino did it all the time and he only got there once. Stats aren’t all that. 4-0 matters though. And Brady usually left it up to Vinateri.
The total margin of victory for the Pats in their 4 Super Bowl wins is something like 15 points. They’ve never dominated a single Super Bowl.
Yeah, Snarkk, the 1981 draft netted Rott, Wright and Williamson. Hicks was the vet presence in the defensive backfield Along with a couple solid D linemen in Pete Kugler and Joe Hardy.
One of the best drafts in 49er history.
Yeah 1 hell of a draft Chuck!
That team really jelled and made their signature statement in Pittsburgh that year ( of course before the Catch) knocking off the Steelers and really dominated led by Dwight Hicks& the Hot Licks(Lott,Williamson,Wright)
Didn’t hurt that “Joe Cool ” had both John Taylor( very underrated) and Jerry Rice for those long handoffs which turned into 80 yard plays!! Talk about “YAC”these 2 easily led that category easily in their heydays!!
Joe won 2 Super Bowls without either of them. ’84 had Freddie S, Clark, Mike Wilson (fairly underrated himself) and Skeets Nehemiah.
Chris Haft is obviously not talking to Giants ownership about adding contracts….
FLAV, I never had time to look if the line moved. I took Clemson and the under…a td this drive for Clemson would be dandy. Do it for Dwight Clark…
There we go!!!
I can never remember what state they’re from, but I’m definitely pulling for Clemson in this Cracker Bowl.
No kidding. I had to look it up. It’s in South Carolina.
Clemson (pronounced climzun by locals) also where Larry Nance played his college ball, first slam dunk champ and very cool player.
Jr. ain’t bad either for Lakers.
Loo, thx for that B/R MVP column. Wow, Mays Aaron and Robby had monster years.
Felipe and Cepeda weren’t bad either. Didn’t realize Don Demeter had that good a year either but Phils were usually awful.
Poor Tommy Davis, batting champ over Robby at .346 with 150 rbis, and gone in a couple years due to injury.
I can bounce around B/R for hours sometimes. Really puts a crimp in my social life.
I have a bunch of books in my Amazon cart for Stix but my Fed paranoia has prevented me from pushing the button. Anybody have anything to say about that?
Sending books to a friend in jail isn’t a crime.
But to be safe, I’d send them before January 20th.
Thanks, Chuck…
entirely justified, imo. Stix took potshots at and hit surveillance aircraft, something I can see federales wondering who might have helped him/or is on his side.
Interesting take, Willie.
Keep ‘ em coming…
Maybe Manson would enjoy a digitally remastered CD of Helter Skelter before he fuckin’ croaks…
AK, that 1981 season was so incredible. It was still easy as shit to get tickets and you could sit in the upper deck pretty much near the 50. I went to a bunch of games that year. Sadly I didn’t see either Dallas game.
U. South Carolina recruits heavily in the Virginia/Maryland area but you don’t hear about Clemson ever recruiting.
I NEED THE GAME TO END WITH THIS SCORE!!!
Unreal. If I’m Clemson, I’d stack the box every play. They run 95% of the time.
Watson looked pretty dumb on that blitz. If he moves 5′ to his left instead of 2′ he would have avoided the sack.
WTF is with this Clemson punter?
I enjoy college football, emphasis on west coast/pac 12. I thought it was great season full of entertaining teams and games.
Regardless of who you think should have gotten in, seems to me these are 2 best teams.
Mike Williams is GOOD.
Great game, especially if you contrast it with the weekend NFL games.
This may be the first Natl Championship game I have watched from beginning to end since that TEXAS-USC one with Vince Young playing lights out…
Take that Bama..busted my under but my tease still alive. But all worth it to hopefully see Bama lose…Saban bothers me. Lane Kiffin’s departure and how that played out bothers me…screw them…
Mike Williams would easily be 49er #1 receiver.Problem is theirs no QB that can throw to him…
Almost busted that kick return…what happened to the defenses???
Is there any fucking reason why Clemson is scared to death to kick the ball?
The punter kick 25 yards a punt, and the kickoffs are popups to the 35 giving Bama great field position
This is insane. This is why i don’t get college football. Clemson did all they could to give them that TD.
At least the game is getting good. I suspect Clemson will blow this tho.
Fucking great catch!!Let’s win this bitch right now!!
Wow! Just wow!
Are you shitting me? Clemson just wasted 45 seconds running 2 plays.
Great ending…I am down with Niners drafting this Mike Williams. Who would throw to him? Jay Cutler!!! lulz..word!
Draft Watson in the 2nd.
Sheeeeeit. Hell of a grab.
Oh HELL YES!!!
Bama goes Down!!
so what does this do for Watson’s standing in draft?
I thought he was a mid – late 1st rounder before this game. He may go up 10 spots.
Yeah baby!!!
What a call on the onside kick…may have gone 10 yards and one inch…
If it didn’t go 10 yards, the worst case is a penalty and re-kick right?
Doesn’t the clock run on the kick?
On possession..
Last win against Alabama was 1905 ? Umm, that’s approaching Chicago Cubs ineptitude, right? Whatever . . . A great all time win for Clemson against Alabama.
I think that is a case of almost never playing against Alabama….
They have only played 13 times since 1905…3 times for the national championship in the last 9 years.
But there was a 30 year gap without a game until ’66 and then Clemson loses 4 years in a row in the regular season to the Bear Bryant machine. Then they played in ’75 losing at Alabama 56-0 and then did not play again for just over 32 years until that 2008 national championship….
True, but Alabama has dominated. Despite their relative proximity in the South, the Tigers and Crimson Tide have met only 15 times ever and only once in the last 40 years. In its 12 straight wins, Alabama has won by a total score of 334 to 54. Clemson has been shut out in seven of 12 matchups and stayed within 20 points only three times.
I bet you Kentucky has not beaten Alabama more than once in a hundred years and they probably play every other year…
Ok I’m wrong, Kentucky has won twice! Alabama has won 37 times, so not quite every other year. Back in the old days, they would play every day…
GH, Kurt Cousins isn’t horrible. Cutler is. If we could get Cousins, I wouldn’t be too disappointed.
We should either trade down a few spots and get Watson or get Williams.
I’ll take Cousins in a heartbeat…still wondering what the Skins do with him…
Loo, when I read how much acreage there was to Stix land and allegedly how many plants there were, I wondered how the F he could care for all of it by himself, let alone harvest it. So I’m sure those in LE would love to sweat any accomplices, especially if they figured Stix wasn’t the only one locked and loaded.
Wouldn’t be at all surprised “friend of Stix” puts you on someone’s radar.
I missed that story…what were the Stix numbers on his unifarm????
Appreciate the insight, Willie…
I’d like to just send him shit anonymously…
Why would the feds care about who sent a book to Stix? Very low risk.
Loo your 9:15 is gold!
Saban’s going to take flack for booting Kiffin a week before this game. Probably did not matter much, but it’s second guess time…
Yeah, I think the game proved that Alabama’s problem wasn’t the OC it was the freshman QB.