Schein: AFC offseason progress report

The Ravens’ offseason moves are among the AFC’s best.

Schein: NFC offseason progress report

As the draft nears, find out how the NFC is shaping up this
offseason.

Saints Team Report (Yahoo! Sports)

The Saints faced their first big decision since the start of free agency after restricted free agent Mike Bell, whom they tendered at the lowest level of $1.176 million, signed an offer sheet with the Philadelphia Eagles.

After Bell received a reported one-year, $1.7 million offer sheet from the Eagles, which includes $500,000 in guaranteed money, the Saints have until Tuesday to match the offer or allow Bell to walk with no compensation.

While they gave no early indication on which way they might go, the Saints could let their second-leading rusher from 2009 leave for two big reasons.

First, they’re deep at the position with Pierre Thomas, Reggie Bush and Lynell Hamilton.

Jeremy Shockey: Bad To the Bone and Damned Proud of It

The Giants’ team psychiatrist told them not to draft your crazy ass.

He said you were out of your freakin’ mind and he even came up with some legal mumbo jumbo bullshit about why they couldn’t draft you.

He went as far as telling GM Ernie Accorsi that he wasn’t going to let him draft you.

Ernie is his own man and he damned sure ain’t gonna let some geek psychiatrist from Princeton tell him who he can and can not draft.

So, Accorsi asked the Giants owner if he could borrow the team plane to fly down to Ada, Oklahoma so he could check you out himself.

Ernie wanted to see what made you tick.

F**k what the shrink thinks!

Accorsi and tight end coach Mike Pope watched you and the other Maimi players like Clinton Portis and Ed Reed workout at a private preview session. Miami players always snubbed the NFL combine back then. They all had attitudes….chips on their f**kin’ shoulders.

Portis and Reed and all those bastards did.

Accorsi remembers how his assistant Pope almost had a damned orgasm watching you practice that day.

“Mike, come over here. All the other teams were watching. If you don’t quit French kissing this guy we’re not going to have any chance at all. Back off, will you?”

Back the f**k off!!!

Accorsi landed in your hometown at that tiny brick building in Ada, Okla., that they call an airport.

He said all he could think was Mickey Mantle, 1949, Commerce, Okla.

You met him on the landing strip and the first thing he did was drive you to the local police station so he could ask the cops in person if you were arrested the night of the high school prom for marijuana.

Accorsi was about to invest millions of dollars in you and he wasn’t about to take your damned word for it.

The cop said, “No, Ernie. Nothin’ like that. Nothin’ at all. No sir, Ernie. Nothin’ like that”

Then, you and Ernie drove over to your alma mater, Ada High School.

He found a lot of C’s and D’s on your report card then he noticed you bounced back in your senior year with all A’s and one B. He thought to himself you must have cheated your f**kin’ ass off your senior year. Nevertheless, he never made anything over it.

After all, a transcript is a transcript said Ernie.

He even went as far as to say you passed with distinction or some bullshit like that.

Then you and Ernie had the best barbecue you ever had in your life over at Bob’s Barbeque. You talked about everything: life, women, sports and more sports. You connected and Ernie knew you were the type he needed to win.

F**k the shrink! You’re fired!

Yeah ole’ Ernie loved you and hated you all at the same time.

He first saw you in 2001 the day Miami beat Penn State 33-7, and you danced all over the end zone whenever you scored a touchdown.

Accorsi thought to himself what an asshole but what a player!

You proved him right on both counts during your career in New York.

You pissed off Tom Coughlin by throwing him under the boss after a loss against Seattle.

You made it point to find a reporter and tell them, “We got outplayed and outcoached.”

Then, you pissed off Eli Manning at the time he was trying to assert himself as the team leader by ignoring his phone calls when he implored you to join him and other teammates in offseason workouts.

You returned for the offseason workouts all right and promptly threw Eli’s ass under the bus with the media upon your arrival.

What an asshole but what a player!

Eli never really relaxed until you departed the lineup never to return. The pressure was finally off. He didn’t have to put up with you ranting and raving and stomping your feet on the sidelines anymore when the ball didn’t come your way.

Nevetheless, no one….not Tiki or Eli or Coughlin questioned that you played hard, unbelievably hard, even in practice.

It wasn’t your fault that you were born a naturally self-destructive guy. It was in your DNA.

Things didn’t end well in New York.

You sparred verbally with Accorsi’s replacement GM Jerry Reese. You broke your leg and the ungrateful bastards didn’t even invite you on the team flight to the Super Bowl.

You needed a change and the New Orleans Saints and Sean Payton and Drew Brees were just what the shrink ordered.

Payton was your offensive coordinator in New York your rookie year when you caught 74 passes and had all the media bastards talkin’.

The Saints haven’t had a character like you since Kyle Turley or Conrad Dobler (for you baby boomers who actually saw some games at Tulane Stadium.

You’re a bad ass. Bad to the bone. Bad to the damned bone.

That Philly sportswriter Sal Paolantonio wrote a couple years back that you were one of the game’s most overrated players. He said you were just making Pro Nowls because its a popularity contest.

That faggot is probably just pissed because he’s an Eagles fan and what the f**k have they ever won anyway.

After the Saints got off to a 4-0 start this year, you said, “I’m very fortunate to come to an organization that’s on the up-rise, and that’s very encouraging. The New Orleans people have been nothing but awesome.”

Bet your ole’ Ernie Accorsi was proud when you scored that TD in the Super Bowl.

Good thing he never listened to that f**kin’ shrink all those years ago.

You would have never played for the Gaints and never met a young offensive coordinator named Sean Payton.

You’re Jeremy Shockey. You are a Super Bowl champion. You’ve got the world by the ass and doesn’t much matter what some shrink or some faggot sportswriter from Philly thinks.

You’re probably crazy. Crazy in a world that’s far too sane.

Read more New Orleans Saints news on BleacherReport.com

The Shutdown Corner post-free agency mock draft, Pt. 2 (Yahoo! Sports)

Now that free agency is done – at least for the most part – it's a good time to head back to the Land of…

Safeties

The
Cowboys safeties and San Francisco’s
Aubrayo Franklin shared an accomplishment last season.
Each had one interception.
Franklin, it should be noted, is a 317-pound nose tackle. That
the
Cowboys’ safeties combined could not
produce more interceptions than then ponderous Franklin offers
compelling evidence that this club could use an upgrade at both
positions.

Morris: Lots to like about new Buc Jones

BY STEPHEN F. HOLDER
Times Staff Writer
GAINESVILLE –
Bucs coach Raheem Morris was
scouting potential players at the University of Florida’s Pro Day
on Wednesday, but he took a moment to reflect on the newest
Buccaneer: safety Sean Jones.
The team made Jones’ signing official Wednesday, announcing a
two-year deal, and Morris is already thinking of ways to put him to
use, speaking of how Jones is a force when playing near the line of
scrimmage.

NFL to examine 2 possessions in playoffs OT

Should the new OT proposal be called the ‘Brett Favre Rule’? (Yahoo! Sports)

There's been more of a hue and cry about overtime in the NFL since … well, since just about the time the…

The Effect of Right-Wing Policy on US Sports: Is There Racial Tension?

The following is a piece which I have written for a college project, in which I was assigned to write about any issue or current affair which I thought would be interesting.

This is the first in a several-part series looking at the involvement of right-wing policy and the effect that it may or may not have on sports in the USA.

As an outsider living in the UK, it is somewhat striking to see that some of the right-wing speakers can air their opinions without any real restrictions or boundaries.

Without further ado, here is the introduction for my piece. Enjoy.

All seems to be fair in the world of sports: a level playing field where no one team or individual has a distinct advantage over the other, besides the talent level between the athletes. Sports is an expression in which there is no discrimination against anyone for any reason, or so it seems.

However, in the year 2010, we still have controversy in which politics and sports go hand in hand with each other. The world of sports is a key market that draws in billions in revenue each year, so with all that money involved in sports, it should be important to keep a clean image.

In the USA, sports fans have front row tickets to their teams. With modern stadiums and facilities, American sports fans are often deemed the most passionate in the world.

Just look, for example, at a city like New Orleans. Their city is coming off the back of the disastrous effects of Hurricane Katrina back in 2005, and now five years later their NFL team, the New Orleans Saints, are Super Bowl champions for the very first time in franchise history.

The Saints have sold out every single home game, including the 2008 game in Wembley Stadium against the San Diego Chargers, while the Saints’ stadium, the 73,000-capacity Superdome, was shelter to around 40,000 people who were displaced during the aftermath of the hurricane.

Without clean water, power, and enough supplies, the city of New Orleans was put on high emergency evacuation as US military forces were deployed into the city. The stadium was flooded from field level and the outside roof damaged from the destruction from Katrina.

In the aftermath and in a destroyed, unstable city, the Saints sold out all of their tickets for the 2006 season, which was capped with a opening game on Monday Night Football against division rivals the Atlanta Falcons.

The reopening of the dome was celebrated with festivities including a free outdoor concert before fans were allowed in a pre-game performance by U2 who performed a cover of “The Saints Are Coming” and a coin toss conducted by former President George H.W. Bush.

In front of ESPN’s largest-ever TV audience at that time, the Saints won the game 23-3 with over 70,000 in attendance in what now ranks as one of the most-watched events in the history of cable television, and they went on to a successful season, reaching their first ever NFC Championship Game.

The Saints fans are among the loudest and most loyal in the NFL, having sold out every single game since Hurricane Katrina back in 2005.

In the USA lately there have been several cases of questionable decisions in which people, coaches, teams, and players have fallen under the sword of the American public and most notably the press.

Some of the decisions made by these people may have nothing at all to do with politics.  While the Republican Party and its candidate John McCain lost out to Barack Obama in last year’s presidential election, the actions of other politicians within the party is somewhat questionable, leading people to wonder, is it the actions of these people that have an effect on the people of America and the followers of the Republicans?

Take, for example, one recent case involving Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Reid made remarks previously in 2008 with regard to Obama which many people found very offensive. Reid’s remarks state that he had described Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign as a “light-skinned African-American” with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.

Reid quickly apologised for his comments directly to the President, who made it clear that the “book was closed on this case.”

Another example of comments made by Republicans towards Obama and black people comes from Michael Steele, who is black and the chairman of the Republican Party, who accused Democrats of trying to have it both ways.

“There is this standard where the Democrats feel that they can say these things and they can apologize when it comes from the mouths of their own. But if it comes from anyone else, it’s racism,” Steele said with regard to Harry Reid’s comments previously.

Steele is not one to shy away from controversy. He has a brash personality and big ego, which is putting it lightly. He has come out with comments previously highlighting his “reverse racism” towards Obama and the black people of the USA in early ‘09 after Obama was elected President. He had this to say about the African-American people of America:

“This is why blacks everywhere should resist the Republican racist agenda. In a lily-white filled party, them bastards pick the one coloured to undermine Obama. It’s sickening and only hurting themselves; go ahead and parade around with your token and bullshit with your party. Obama for President 2012.”

As you can clearly see, his opinions are very shocking to many people, but one wonders, does this behavior and these opinions have an effect on their followers? Does that transcend down to the sports side of America, in which black athletes have dominated in the NBA [National Basketball Association] and NFL [National Football League], as well as other organizations?

In this article I will investigate different scenarios in which politics and the world of sports have had an effect on each other. I will look at the various incidents involving racism and controversy from people in sport and evaluate whether they are affected by the right-wing politics of Republican Party members.

Read more New Orleans Saints news on BleacherReport.com