Quotulatiousness

February 8, 2011

Packer fans’ code of conduct in Minnesota

Filed under: Football, Humour — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 07:29

Michael Rand offers some well-intentioned guidelines for euphoric Green Bay fans who happen to live in Viking country:

Here is our statement, on behalf of Vikings fans living in Minnesota: Congratulations to the Packers and their fans. Sunday’s Super Bowl victory was well-deserved. Aaron Rodgers is one of the best — if not the best? — quarterbacks in the NFL. Everything that happened from Jan. 24, 2010 (Vikings/Saints) until Sunday was pretty much the greatest thing that could have happened to Wisconsin. We understand this. You have the right to enjoy this. And you have bragging rights for the foreseeable future.

However … here is our advice to Packers fans living in our fair state: You will want to adhere to the guidelines set forth below — the Articles of Celebration — in order to bask in the post-Super Bowl afterglow safely, in moderation, and without getting punched by a pack of surly Vikings fans. (Note: Much of this, of course, assumes there is an NFL season)

February 6, 2011

Lost recording of SuperBowl I turns up

Filed under: Football, Media — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 10:55

Given the ubiquity of video sites on the web today, it can be hard to believe that major TV networks only started systematically storing tapes of shows in the early 1970s. One of the “holy grail” recordings that historians were looking for was SuperBowl I:

Football fans know what happened in Super Bowl I. The game, which was played on January 15, 1967, was the first showdown between the NFL and AFL champions. It ended with the Green Bay Packers stomping the Kansas City Chiefs, 35-10.

Unless they were one of the 61,946 people at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum that day, or one of the fans who watched it live on NBC or CBS, there’s one thing that all football fans have in common: They’ve never actually seen the game.

In a bizarre confluence of events, neither network preserved a tape. All that survived of this broadcast is sideline footage shot by NFL Films and roughly 30 seconds of footage CBS included in a pre-game show for Super Bowl XXV. Somehow, an historic football game that was seen by 26.8 million people had, for all intents and purposes, vanished.

My favourite bit of information from the article is a lovely juxtaposition between the massive popularity (and wall-to-wall TV coverage) of modern SuperBowl games and this:

The recording also includes a shocking sight for a Super Bowl: empty seats. The game didn’t sell out, even with ticket prices that topped out at $12.

February 4, 2011

Superbowl XLV storyline: sportscasters in the frigid cold

Filed under: Football, Humour, Media — Tags: , , , , , , — Nicholas @ 09:03

The Two Scotts spend a bit of time talking about the teams, but most of their column talking about how the brave network sports guys are bearing up under the unexpectedly cold weather:

Reid: Top three undeniable facts about Super Bowl XLV:

1. Sports Reporters Are Pussies. So far the most reportable item from the 2011 Super Bowl appears to be that it’s very coldy woldy. We had to spend days listening to ESPN’s Mike and Mike wussy aloud about how cold it was broadcasting outside until they finally moved their show indoors. And it seems every other reporter in Dallas assumes what the football-loving public wants to learn first is how they’re all holding up in the frigid air of north Texas. Yo candy apples, it’s barely dropped below freezing. Grow a pair!

[. . .]

Feschuk: Reid is right — how can you people think about football at a time like the Super Bowl? Have you not read the stories of valour and bravery from north Texas? Are you not aware of the HARDSHIP and SUFFERING being endured by members of media, who have been subjected to horrible injustices such as wind and having their corporate golf junkets cancelled? Reading their harrowing dispatches from the front lines, it’s clear that these reporters are pretty much exactly like the pro-democracy protesters in Egypt, except even more courageous because some of them forgot to bring warm socks. WE STAND WITH YOU, HEROES!

Honestly, did the US networks hire all of their current crop of sportscasters from Toronto? It would explain the whining about the weather . . .

Then again, the reporters had to write about something, and there are only so many times you can go on about Aaron Rodgers’ talent or interview the family of gypsies that lives in Brett Keisel’s beard. One news outlet in New Hampshire was so desperate that it actually ran a story about a local man who has the same name as Packers coach Mike McCarthy. Think about that. Think about how hard-up for a remotely engaging Super Bowl story the editor must have been to say out loud, “There’s someone else on this planet with the name Mike McCarthy?? AND HE LIVES HERE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE???? To the newsmobile!!!“

Aside from the terrible, terrible burden of the weather, the next biggest problem (according to Reid) is this:

There are Not Enough Slutty Women in Texas. In what would constitute a crisis in any circumstance, an embarrassing shortage of prostitutes in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area during the Super Bowl may irreparably damage the city’s reputation among hard-up pigs. It is estimated that 10,000 hookers are needed to satisfy the drunken demands of fat corporate slobs who, left to their own charms, couldn’t pick up a slice of pizza. Dallas currently has less than half this number of ladies of the evening (not mention ladies of the afternoon, the late morning, the early morning and the Warren Sapp). In response, the Dallas mayor has been forced to implement emergency measures: Free tickets for Charlie Sheen and ‘friends’.

November 22, 2010

Seventh worst home loss in Vikings history

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 08:44

Has the team given up? I’d suggest that letting your biggest rivals whip you by a score of 31-3 on your home field is pretty strong evidence that the team is no longer viable. I didn’t see the game, but the score was 3-0 Vikings as I left the house. I had no idea that was the high point of the game . . .

It was apparently no party on the sidelines:

As if a 31-3 loss wasn’t bad enough, the Vikings’ tensions boiled to the point that heated exchanges were considered normal on Sunday.

Brett Favre and offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell argued after a Favre interception late in the first half.

“We’re fine. I was mad at myself,” Favre said.

Defensive end Ray Edwards barked at rookie cornerback Chris Cook by consistently getting burned on the left side. Cook got benched in favor of Asher Allen, who didn’t fare much better as a facilitator of quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ 301 yards and four touchdowns.

The defensive linemen had beef with Cook and Allen giving up several big gains from the sideline on fade routes.

“I never thought we’d get beat on four fade (routes),” defensive tackle Kevin Williams said.

Williams and cornerback Antoine Winfield both said they talked with Edwards about keeping such conversations in-house instead of on the sidelines.

To make the soap opera complete, Brett Favre didn’t answer reporters’ questions about whether he’ll finish the season (that is, whether he’s now considering retiring immediately).

If Zygi Wilf was thinking about firing Brad Childress, as the home fans are demanding, yesterday’s game would give him a good reason. I don’t know if the Wilfs are willing to do that, as they’d still owe Childress for millions on his contract, but it would certainly please the fans.

Update: Childress has been fired.

October 25, 2010

Brad Childress to be fined for criticizing game officials?

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 09:36

After last night’s loss at Green Bay, Vikings coach Brad Childress poured some of his frustrations into a possibly expensive criticism of the officials:

Brad Childress was upset by Brett Favre’s decision-making on Sunday night as the now-injured quarterback threw three interceptions in a 28-24 loss to Green Bay at Lambeau Field, but the Vikings coach reserved the majority of his ire for the officiating job done by referee Scott Green’s crew.

Childress clearly wasn’t happy when he spoke to the media in the postgame news conference, but he was seething during an earlier interview on Vikings flagship station KFAN (1130 AM).

“That’s the worst officiated game I’ve seen,” said Childress, whose team fell to 2-4 after losing four games in the entire 2009 regular season. “That referee came over and apologized to me for not calling a hold on the scramble by [Packers quarterback Aaron] Rodgers. And I’ll tell you what, that’s his job. Protect the quarterback and look at the left tackle. Look at the left tackle hold his tail off.”

As a long-time Vikings fan, I’m used to grousing about how the Vikings don’t get the same benefit of the doubt from the officials that certain other teams seem to get. Last night’s game was a good example, where Green Bay’s second TD catch looked like an incompletion (but was allowed) and Visanthe Shiancoe’s TD catch was disallowed. The Vikings kicked a field goal, but the four point difference was the losing margin at the end of the game.

Of course, if Brett Favre had just taken a sack instead of trying to force the ball, the game result would have been different, too.

January 10, 2010

Shootout in Arizona, shoot-down in Foxboro

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 21:29

Just watched the Baltimore Ravens do horrible things to the guys wearing the New England Patriot uniforms. Following that, the Arizona Cardinals had a scoring fest against the Green Bay Packers . . . who also had a scoring fest.

I don’t know what happened to the Patriots, as they looked as though they’d never seen a football before. The game was already looking out of reach by the end of the first quarter. Final score, 33-14. Baltimore tried a couple of trick plays — having the quarterback throw the ball in a “forward pass” rather than handing off to the running back. It’s a legal play, and some teams do a lot of it, but Baltimore didn’t need too much of that exotic stuff to grind New England down.

Arizona appeared to have an insurmountable lead over the Packers, but somehow (perhaps by not playing any significant defence) they let Green Bay tie the game at the end of regulation, forcing an overtime period. This was one of the highest scoring games in playoff history (at one point, the game announcers said it had already tied for second highest combined score, and the game wasn’t over yet). The game was decided on a defensive TD early in the overtime period, finishing 51-45.

November 1, 2009

Favre wins in return to Green Bay

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 23:45

The Vikings held on, after dominating the Packers in the first half, to sweep the series 2-0 with a 38-26 win at Green Bay:

Brett Favre jogged out of the tunnel in a purple helmet. He might as well have been wearing a black hat.

No, Favre didn’t seem to relish playing the villain in his return to Lambeau Field. But it was going to take more than a chorus of boos to throw him off his game.

For the second time in less than a month, Favre sliced up his former team and stuck it to the franchise that cast him aside as the Minnesota Vikings beat the Green Bay Packers 38-26 at Lambeau on Sunday. Despite being jeered repeatedly by Packers fans who once cheered his every move, Favre completed 17 of 28 passes for 244 yards and four touchdowns without an interception.

The game leaves the Vikings at 7-1 going into their bye week, and clearly in the lead for the NFC North division title.

October 10, 2009

Happy birthday, Brett

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 10:52

Chip Scoggins and Chris Miller poke a little fun at both the birthday boy and his former team:

FAMOUS OCT. 10 BIRTHDAYS

Guiseppe Verdi (1813) Refused to retire. Died at age 87. Composed romantic operas, none set in Green Bay.

Thelonious Monk (1917) The great jazz pianist retired when he was 54. Packers fans preferred accordion players.

Tanya Tucker (1958) The country singer’s “Two Sparrows in a Hurricane” is interpreted by some as Favre’s ode to Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy.

October 7, 2009

Monday night’s Packers-Vikings game set new cable record

Filed under: Football, Media — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 09:00

Who knew that the secret to setting cable television records was to pit a future hall-of-fame quarterback against his former team? ESPN reports:

ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” was watched by more than 21.8 million people. The previous record was more than 18.6 million viewers for last year’s Monday night game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys.

ESPN also said Tuesday that the game drew the highest rating in the network’s 30-year history. The 15.3 rating beat the 14.4 for a Bears-Vikings game on Dec. 6, 1987, during ESPN’s first season of televising NFL games.

October 6, 2009

Fear the mullet!

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 07:19

Jared Allen had a career game last night, as the Vikings beat divisional rivals the Green Bay Packers at the Metrodome. As hyped as this game was, I was expecting it to be tense, but not particularly exciting . . . I was delighted to be wrong: it was a high-scoring game with lots of drama. Allen sacked Packers quarterback Aaron Rogers four and a half times, and added a forced fumble and a safety. Rogers had a miserable time, being chased all over, sacked eight times, but still managing to throw for 384 yards.

As Jim Souhan tweeted, “Rodgers is going to be dreaming about Jared Allen all week. How’d you like to be haunted by that mullet?”

JaredAllen
Photo detail from the Star Tribune

Brett Favre had downplayed the confrontation with his former team all week, and he played very well indeed. His timing with wide receiver Bernard Berrian was everything he could hope for, unlike last week’s game, including a beautiful TD pass. His numbers for the night were 24 of 31 passes for 271 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, and an impressive 135.3 passer rating.

Adrian Peterson had a much less satisfying experience: the Packer defence bottled him up after the first drive, and he lost a fumble which was run back for a Packer TD by rookie Clay Matthews. His numbers for the game were a very un-Peterson-like 25 carries for 55 yards, with one (short) TD. He also appeared to injure his leg on the play, although he did return later in the game.

Favre got another record in this game:

Monday’s victory means Favre has now beaten all 32 NFL teams. The Vikings’ 4-0 start is their best since beginning 6-0 in 2003 and with a game Sunday at winless St. Louis (0-4) their chances to remain undefeated appear to remain strong. Childress also now has two consecutive victories over the Packers after starting 0-5 against them — Favre was the quarterback for four of those Packers victories.

There is little doubt at this point Favre appears to be a very solid $12 million investment. “I’m trying to not be surprised because it’s what we expected,” owner Zygi Wilf said. “I’m happy to say from last week to this week shows us that you can never be surprised. He’s a Hall of Fame quarterback. We’re just going to enjoy this win and move on to the next game. We have larger, bigger goals ahead of us and that’s what we’re going to strive for as a team.”

October 5, 2009

It really is just another game

Filed under: Football, Media — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 07:49

Judd Zulgad on tonight’s Monday Night Football extravaganza:

The NFL’s version of the perfect storm is about to hit the Metrodome.

After a week of buildup, hype and denial of a quest for revenge, Brett Favre is finally going to get the chance to face his former team. And did we mention the Vikings will be playing host to the Packers, too?

Try as Favre might to downplay the magnitude of tonight’s matchup — “It’s just another game,” he said with a straight face last week — there is no denying what this means. Not only to Favre but to many others who have eagerly anticipated an event that will be as much theater as football. The scorned superstar, playing for his former team’s arch-rival, given his chance at redemption on a national stage.

It’s no wonder ESPN executives were giddy when Favre ended his retirement on Aug. 18. That made an already attractive Monday night game between the Vikings and Packers a must-see spectacle that could break the cable viewership record ESPN set on Sept. 15, 2008, when 18.6 million tuned in to watch the Eagles-Cowboys.

July 29, 2009

Green Bay’s plans work to perfection

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 09:13

You’ve got to hand it to those slick guys in Green Bay. They crafted the perfect distraction to keep Minnesota off balance and unsettled, by dangling the possibility of Brett Favre joining the Vikings. I don’t know how they got Brett to go along with it, but it has jerked the Vikings fanbase every which way for months, and will continue to be a divisive factor throughout the pre-season and into the start of the regular season. Hats off, Packer braintrust . . . you’ve more than earned your espionage bonuses this season.

I’m only surprised that Favre didn’t keep this “will-I-or-won’t-I” charade going for another couple of weeks.

Personally, I’m relieved that he’s staying retired (I called for him to stay retired the day the news broke). As recently as May, a majority of Minnesotans didn’t want the Vikings to sign him.

Of course, the local media appears to have really wanted the Favre-a-palooza to come to town:

All the hoopla, mystery and angst ended Tuesday, however, when the Vikings learned Favre won’t be joining the team.

After three months of buildup that seemed destined to end with the future Hall of Fame quarterback in purple, Favre called Vikings coach Brad Childress and told him he would remain retired. The call came a day before the Vikings report to training camp in Mankato, and three days before the team’s first practice.

The decision could be a blow to a team considered a Super Bowl contender with Favre, who holds every significant NFL passing record. His presence also would have guaranteed sellouts for a franchise that has struggled to sell tickets in recent seasons.

Now we’ll see how Coach Childress and the ownership try to rebuild their relationship with Tarvaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels, who are probably rightfully feeling unwanted and unappreciated.

« Newer Posts

Powered by WordPress