Tiger on the podium

Just saw Tiger's press conference.

A few things:

1. The hug-a-thon at the end was a little unnecessary. But, the man needs love and support right now, so I guess it makes sense.

2. Not surprising, and it speaks volumes about their marriage, but no sign of Elin. Her absence pretty much tells me everything I need to know about their future as a couple. But, the kids should have been there to support their dad. Elin was a little selfish on that one, but considering what's gone on, it's tough to put any blame on her for anything she's done lately.

3. Tiger referencing his faith was an interesting one. Didn't know he was a Buddhist.

4. Tiger, once again, made clear how he can't stand the media. It's probably the biggest hypocrisy that he's guilty of-his fame was generated by the same media that he was taking shots at during the press conference. While I agree with his "stop following my family" rant, he's gotta handle that at a different time, otherwise it looks a little like "Okay, I screwed up, but these people are evil".

5. Would athletes stop using the phrase "role model" during press conferences? If parents are dumb and ignorant enough to let their children follow professional athletes who couldn't care less about kids, then it's on parents to have to explain why Tiger was messing around.

Super Bowl Blog, part V. 4th quarter.

Yes! The Indian guys in the MetroPCS commercial make a Super Bowl appearance. Welcome to the party, fellas. What? Jerry Bruckheimer hasn't replaced them with white guys yet?

14:50, 4th. Nice catch, Garcon.

12:55. 4th down call is ballsy. Manning gettin' it done.

10:44. Time for Stover to shine. Ooh, wide left. Colts are playing scared. They can't cover the Saints receivers. They'll be going for it on 4th down from now until it hits 0:00.

10:29. Bush is starting to get some lanes. Kim appearance on its way.

7:45. Brees can't miss! Start getting that etching pen ready.

6:00. Ugh, Shockey scored a td. Feeling nauseous right now.

5:45. Time to earn #2, Peyton.

5:45. Good challenge. Gift of a call. Inconlusive evidence.

4:45. Ugh, Nantz just mentioned the possible overtime finish. Will vomit if it happens on the first posession. Might actually hope for a strike in '11.

3:10. Ooh, Manning got picked off. 6 the other way. That hurts.

Meanwhile, in San Francisco, my buddy Dave is going nuts. Cauldwell curse is comin'! Football Gods are in full effect.

2:00. Manning to Collie. Too little, too late. They'll need the next play to get into the endzone, followed by an onside.

1:16. Really? We're calling p.i. on offense now? Unbelievable. Do the refs just have to make themselves

:44. Manning couldn't get it done. Maybe Brady is better. Nah. Manning doesn't need a kicker to win games.

*Colts blew this one. Couldn't play defense, and Saints D took away Wayne and Garcon. Great win. I think Manning just pulled a LeBron and bounced.

Super Bowl Blog, part IV, 3rd quarter

Kickoff, 3rd. Wow. Nice call, Payton. Make up for not taking the points earlier. Hey, Baskett, maybe Kendra should be out there handling the ball.

13:58, 3rd. Close call on the throw. Saints are starting to whip around the field, Madden-style.

11:41. Nice run by Thomas. Saints are moving the ball like it ain't no thang. #18's getting his chin-strap on. Momentum's colored black and gold right now. (Yes, black and GOLD, not YELLOW-shout out to the Steelers.)

8:15. The biggest WTF throw in a Super Bowl! We're all wondering what he's doing, and it's a perfect throw to Clark. Vedder's claiming that Manning's a diety. Love it.

6:15. First Eli sighting. Hmm, surprising camera shot. Addai's having a career rebirth. 17-13, Colts.

4:08. If I had that much time, I'd be passing on the Colts. Another field goal attempt. Damn, that boy's good. 3/3. Hartley's on fire-like Timberlake's paddle.

Oh, sooo will not be seeing Prince of Persia. Nice job getting a white guy to play a persian prince. Now that's good casting, you ignorant ass-clowns.

1:42. What's up with Collie with the side-to-side running? Catch the ball, and run UP the field. Not that complicated.

End of 3rd. 17-16, Colts. Time for the running games to show up.

Super Bowl blog, part III: second quarter-the march to halftime

14:50, 2nd. Nice make-up catch by Colston.

13:41, 2nd. First lousy call. "late hit"? Really? It's called tackling, you dopes. Trying to keep it interesting, are you ump?

13:20, 2nd. First poor tackling attempt-Colts. Pierre Thomas just looked like Bo Jackson in Tecmo Bowl. Freeney's got his spin move back? Was he apart of the Weapon X project?

9:50, 2nd. Freeney WAS a member of the Weapon X project! I knew it! Torn ligament, and sacking quarterbacks? Reediculous.

8:57, 2nd. Saints finally get some penetration and stop the run.

8:23, 2nd. Somebody call a doctor! There's a dropsies epidemic! Bush to return punt. Uh oh.

8:21, 2nd. Good punt. No return. And, no Kim sighting! WTF, people. Cameramen are in on the betting I tell ya.

5:26, 2nd. Saints passing game is starting to show up. A shame they're going to have a half-hour to cool down. Half-time shows suck.

Jump the Shark call, courtesy of Vedder: CSI Miami in space. Dear Lord.

2:27, 2nd. I'm calling it. Play-action to Shockey.

1:55, 2nd. Gotta go with me on that one, Payton.

1:49, 2nd. Huh? You go for the points, people! For the points! "You play to win the game!"

:52, 2nd. Saints call a time-out. Smart. Cauldwell's stupidity is starting to show. Now, the Colts are kicking to Bush, from their own end zone. Brilliant. Just freaking brilliant.

:05, 2nd. Hartley's coming on the field. Possible 'Aints moment? Nope. Looked solid.

Halftime.

Super Bowl blog, part II: First quarter

Okay, national anthem-not bad. Not overdone, no notes stretched out.

New Orleans won the toss. Somewhere, a million people just lost a few bucks on the coin toss. "Only in America"-Don King.

13:31, 1st quarter. Brees is looking tight. Colts line looking good.

13:13, 1st q. Clark's first catch. My MVP choice is looking good.

10:30. Three throws to Clark. Saints DBs doing their thing taking away the WRs. Uh oh, Collie's got a reception.

9:06. And now the refs are getting into it. First flag-Colts. Think I just lost ten bucks on that one.

7:34, 1st. Field goal attempt, Colts. Damn it! Don't think I have "3" or "6" in my boxes.

Bud Light commercial. Stupid. Betty White commercial. Funny stuff. We've got an Abe Vigoda sighting! Oh my goodness!

"Ground can't cause the fumble". No Fun League indeed. C'mon, man up, and hold onto the ball.

*Also texting updates to Laura. Maybe she's coming around on sports. C'mon, Christmas early!

Dog commercial for Doritos. Dumb.

7:11, 1st. Colts are tackling. Underrated detail about that defense that the "Freeney watch" coverage didn't talk about. Morons.

5:55. Bush sighting. Nice catch. And, seems like he can run a little.

5:28. Colston pulls a Edwards. Not the game to do it, man. That's going to get brought up later. Colts are going to get it deep in their territory. Yikes! Ball's at the 4.

Robin Hood with Russell Crowe? Um, no.

Manning starting to get some "remember me" hits. Not getting rid of it fast enough. No separation. Dump-off city.

3:58, 1st. Nice run call. Fooled everybody.

3:41, 1st. Dare I say Manning looks like he's got happy feet? Long run by Addai. Saints' D is going to have to stop sending the house. Colts got the ball to a respectable distance.

1:53, 1st. Um, new MVP candidate on the rise? Addai just took somebody's jock. In field goal distance. Bob Schieffer's getting mentioned during the game? Gotta love cross-promotion.

:36, 1st. Dayumm! Manning just hit Garcon deep. 10-0, Colts.

:30, 1st. 0-0 for you box people, at home. Holding penalty for Saints.

Grown men with a whale. Just stupid.

Super Bowl Blog, part I: Pre-game tv, and jerkoff pizza places

Okay, so we're here. Waiting for the game to start.

Nope, not watching the 24 hours pre-game coverage. Don't need to see the Plaxico interview, and see Shannon Sharpe squirm when the rest of the crew talk about the Hall of Fame inductees. Better luck next time, Shannon. Maybe next year you'll actually get in, and not get bumped for some old hack who happens to have played for one of the teams playing in this year's Super Bowl. Shout out to Rickey Jackson.

5:51 pm: Just came back from Goombah's in Union. See my Facebook update about my issues with them.

My buddy Vedder (yes he has a first name, but is it important? Not really), just had a gem of a quote, explaining why he managed to avoid trouble in college, and why professional athletes are always running into trouble:

"You know why I didn't do drugs? Because nobody offered it to me."-Sheer brillance.

It's now 5:57. CBS is giving the pre-game show credits. Uh on. About to 30 minutes of more nonsense before kickoff. Setting a stopwatch for the national anthem. I'm going with 5:23.

Praise and Potshots

Praise to the Chiefs, for finally having enough of the nonsense that was Larry "No not Granmama" Johnson. Johnson's 75 yards away from tying Priest Holmes' record for most yards by a K.C. running back. Good timing on the part of the Chefs (yeah, I did that on purpose. Shout out to the Snickers commercial), to make sure Holmes' record isn't eclipsed by some homophobic, woman spitting-on jerk. I don't think anybody should be surprised by this. Since Johnson entered the league, he whined about not getting enough touches, despite being a fresh-out-of-the-draft rookie. The Chiefs are trying to win by establishing a winning culture, which is exactly what you'd expect out of former Patriots GM Scott Pioli. Here's hoping that they're off to a good start. (Except when they play the Raiders later this year.)

Potshot to the Oregon Ducks. In their first game of the year, running back LeGarrette Blount decided to try his hand at MMA, when he punched out Byron Hout of Boise State. (Love the choice in music, to whoever created that clip). Blount's original suspension would have kept him out for the season, but Oregon has reinstated the boxer-turned running back, after gaining approval from the Pac-10. Hmm, could it be that Oregon's in the top 25, and on the outside looking in at a BCS bowl game, which would mean thousands, if not millions of dollars for the school? Since Blount was suspended, the Ducks have won all but one game: their last one, a 51-42 loss to Stanford (who, by the way, is a half-game behind the Ducks for the conference lead).

I think it's safe to say that Oregon decided trade the school's integrity for a potential payoff in January. Now, personally, I'm not all that bothered by what Blount did. I think sports would be a lot calmer, if you just let guys throw down every once in a while. Just burns off the aggression, if you ask me. Like in hockey, if things get too one-sided, the refs just break it up. I can guarantee you that you'd see a lot less taunting if there was fear floating around of a reprisal coming in the form of smack down. Nothing puts a faster stop to trash talking than a punch in the mouth.

So, no, I'm not really bothered by what Blount did. However, I do think it's ridiculous to see how much of a 180 Oregon has now done, in light of their supposed indignation when Blount was originally suspended. Kinda funny how a school's athletic program can go from demonizing an individual, to suddenly pleading for that same person's return to the field.

And, while on the subject of college athletes with a bit of an anger management issue, big ol' shout out to Elizabeth Lambert of New Mexico University. Ms. Lambert decided to channel Bill Laimbeer,

when she became a one-woman wrecking crew, basically assaulting every opponent on BYU's soccer team last week. As of now, Lambert is suspended indefinitely by the school, but, as in the case with Blount, we'll see how long that holds up. I'm willing to bet that we'll see Ms. Lambert again, if NMU runs into a tough part of their remaining schedule this year.

Who'd have thought? More integrity in professional sports, then in "student" athletics.