UPDATE: The on-field Notre Dame football hoax you didn’t know about

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evil on the internet - attack of the machinesNo, not that one, although there is a loose connection. One of the names that came up from time to time in the media’s coverage of Manti Te’o this season was that of Tim Brown. As Te’o became an increasingly serious (or unserious, depending on what you believe right now) Heisman contender, Brown’s name got kicked around because Brown was the last Notre Dame player to win the Heisman trophy, which he did during the 1987 season.

Te’o didn’t win though, and amidst the post-national championship game kerfuffle that has surrounded Te’o and Notre Dame, and in the leadup to Super Bowl XLVII, Brown thought it was a good time to reassert himself in the national sports discussion.

Now, he’s front-and-center, with a thinly veiled accusation that the Oakland Raiders threw Super Bowl XXXVII. Brown said that the Raiders’ coach, Bill Callahan, “sabotage[d]” his team by changing their offensive scheme two days before the game. Why? Callahan “had a big problem with the Raiders, . . . hated the Raiders.” That’s nothing new. Why else? Callahan wanted his “good friend[]”– opposing coach John Gruden– a Super Bowl win.

Well. Rather than make a Jon Gruden joke, I’ll just ask why nobody’s checking to see whether Les Miles is on the Bill Callahan coaching tree.

UPDATE: This isn’t just a Notre Dame thing. Brown’s teammate on that Raiders team, Jerry Rice, also spoke out in support of Brown’s assertion, and, if anything, he was less equivocal than Brown.   Continue reading →

NFC Champtionship notes

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The San Francisco 49ers meet the Atlanta Falcons this afternoon in the Georgia Dome to play for the opportunity to go to the Super Bowl in New Orleans. Hidden between the media’s heavy stereotyping of this matchup are a few nice preview pieces that actually track pretty well those for last week‘s game, as well as my prediction for this afternoon’s outcome:    Keep reading…

Stereotyping the NFC Championship Game

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kaeprnick si coverThe San Francisco 49ers are back in the NFC Championship Game again this year, where they’ll be facing the Atlanta Falcons instead of the New York Giants, and they’ll be doing it with young go-hard Colin Kaepernick instead of old can’t-catch-a-break Alex Smith at quarterback. How is the media treating this meeting between Bay Area bohemians and members of Black Hollywood‘s elite crew?

By rushing to stereotypes, of course.

We go first to Atlanta, where you just know those FalCONS are up to no good. How did they get that way? Atlanta “like[s] players with high ‘FBI’ scores.” Because they’re criminals, you see. At least that’s what that Atlanta Journal-Constitution headline writer would make you click a link to a game-week puff piece on “football intelligence,” which no reasonable person abbreviates as “FBI.”

Let’s head out to Cali, shall we? See what’s pulled those hemp-farmers away from their crystal collections and communal energy vortex long enough to turn them into probably the best team in the NFL this season? What’s their secret? Yoga, of course! And a copy of the Dhammapada– or at least an old yearbook clipping– in every locker.

If playing to the lowest common social denominator isn’t lazy enough for you, how about a tried-and-true sports cliche? We again turn to the Falcons’ hometown paper, where we now find the Durrty Burds’ fans-of-letters grasping at straws, or other print publications, as it were. Knowing that the top seed is outmatched at home on Sunday, they’re putting their eggs in the SI Cover Curse basket, and at this point, why not? Unless it can make Kaepernick and Frank Gore disappear the way it did to the alleged girlfriend of Manti Te’o, though, I think the Falcons are going to be in a bad tangle Sunday.

Decoding Hoax Jam

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After thirty-six hours like the thirty-six (forty-six?) we’ve just had, so much about the Manti Te’o-Lennay Kekua-Ronaiah Tuiasosopo-Notre Dame story remains unknown. Someone from Te’o’s side finally spoke yesterday, but the picture really isn’t much clearer. As far as I’m concerned, that’s a good thing, because it means we get to go to straight to this Jam:

How could you know that I lived in a desperate world?
How could you dream that we were all made out of stone?
What is the truth, what is the faithful lasting proof?
What is the central theme to this everlasting spoof?

ALDLAND Podcast

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It has often been said that ALDLAND will make you jump, jump, and this podcast is no exception.  I am sure you can guess that we will be leading off with the biggest story of the day, possibly even of this young year.  But fear not, listener(s).  There is ample discussion of Manti “I have a girlfriend  she just goes to another school” Te’o as well as the NFL playoffs.

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Super Bowl XLVII, brought to you by the AARP?

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The NFL playoffs is down to its final four teams, and by Sunday night, we’ll know whether Baltimore or New England will be facing Atlanta or San Francisco in the Super Bowl in New Orleans.

lewis-gonzalez-moss

These playoffs have been a Rusty’s Last Call ride for Ray Lewis, whose Ravens somewhat improbably have advanced to the AFC championship game. While their opponent, the Patriots, is a perennial postseason favorite, the Ravens (and not, any longer, the Seahawks) are the hot team of this postseason, and it’s becoming difficult to bet against them– ESPN certainly isn’t. Lewis’ last dance may come Saturday. If not, it will come on Super Bowl Sunday.

If it does, Lewis will share the setting sun’s spotlight with one other notable retiree. If the NFC championship game goes according to the seeding, it will be longtime Chief and current Falcon Tony Gonzalez. The tight end, probably best known for popularizing the crossbar dunk TD celebration, says he’s 95% certain he’ll retire after this season, and while his final act has received markedly less than the gyrating, bionic-armed one of Lewis, the attention he has received has taken care to note just how impressive of a career he’s had.

If the NFC championship game follows the hot hand, as it sure seems like it may, Lewis’ possibly outgoing opponent will one whose superstardom has long since burned low. Randy Moss’ days as the league’s most dominant wide receiver are long gone. His days as an albatross– i.e., his days in Oakland and Nashville– seem to be in the past as well. He’s retired once, and he’s rapidly approaching the end of his one-year contract with San Francisco. There hasn’t been any retirement discussion from Moss (this ambiguous retweet aside), or really much discussion of him in the media at all. Moss’ numbers are way down from his peak-production years, though they’re up over his recent disaster years. It’s tough to know whether the 49ers or Moss will want to sign a new contract for next year– he started only two games this year, the fewest of any season in his career– or if this is it. The only sure bet looks to be that, if this Sunday or Super Bowl Sunday really is Moss’ last game, he’ll treat it a little differently than Lewis will handle his.

Jason Taylor’s pain shows NFL’s world of hurt (via The Miami Herald)

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As America’s most popular sport encounters a liability problem … as gladiator Junior Seau kills himself with a shotgun blast to the chest and leaves his damaged brain to study … as awareness and penalties increase around an NFL commissioner confronting the oxymoronic task of making a violent game safe … and as the rules change but the culture really doesn’t … we think we know this forever-growing monster we are cheering on Sundays. But we don’t. We have no earthly idea. … Read More

(via The Miami Herald)

Environmentally Friendly Birds vs. Dirty Birds: A few words

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Big Boi is a tough act to follow, but here goes. The Seattle Seahawks meet the Atlanta Falcons in the Georgia Dome today at 1:00. There are a couple things you should read before then: