While the timing and suddenness of Mike Bellotti’s departure took many by surprise, the act itself should not. Mike Bellotti is not a athletic director, he is not made to sit behind a desk in a office all day and deal with women’s golf and finding money to ensure the lacrosse team stays in a proper hotel. I’ve covered Bellotti for years and knew that when he took over the AD job it wasn’t going to be a long term gig. I thought he would have lasted a bit longer but in light of recent events I can’t say I blame him. I talked with a guy close to the situation who said the final straw was having to fire Ernie Kent, a man he has know for 13 years and considers a friend and also happens to be his neighbor. It was the culmination of a series of pain in the butt situations that just weren’t fun to deal with. He just simply realized that this wasn’t a job he enjoyed doing every day, and at his stage of life why on earth would y he do anything he didn’t enjoy. He’s a well respected coach, a in demand analyst which he is going to be great at and by the way is a great job with a great quality of life attached to it, has more money than he ever needs, there is just no reason to go to work every day and not enjoy it. That’s what this boils down to, he isn’t running from scandal or responsibility, he’s just moving onto to something he will enjoy and who can blame a man for that. As for Oregon, it’s another blow in a very turbulent filled couple of months. They need to find an AD, a basketball coach, a starting QB, and regain a measure or normalcy and the sooner the better. But I wouldn’t worry duck fan, the sky isn’t exactly falling. I have a feeling by the time football starts the trouble of the last couple of months will be a distant memory. The athletic program is set up for success. Chip Kelly will be fine and his team will win. You should get a quality basketball coach and you have a nice new arena opening soon. That should take some of the sting away, now if you can only find that QB. That task may be the hardest of all.
PS- this is how I choose to remember coach Bellotii
When two of my passions come face to face, great things can happen. Click here to see a list of the 15 best sports episodes in TV history. Special love to “Homer At The Bat” and “the World Series Defense”
Holly Santa Clause sh*t, is all I have to say about what I saw last night. I had the esteem privilege of checking out Billy Joel, my all time favorite act, and Sir Elton John last night in concert. I saw these two about 10 years ago when I was in college and it’s almost like I forget how much ass they kicked. I went in excited, but man I left with my tail between my legs last night not feeling worthy of what I just saw. I feel like I need to send them more money or something. It was that good folks. Who would have thought that a 60 year old bald guy, and a little pudgy gay Brit could rock like this? Both sounded great, sure Billy may not have the pipes he had back in the Glass Houses days, but he can still bring it and Elton Sounds as good as he ever did. If fact you could say when they were on stage together he actually drowned out Billy. But Billy has a stage presence second to none and in a close split decision I would give the match to the Piano Man.
At the start of the show Billy came out to Yankee Doodle Dandy, followed by Elton to God Save the Queen, very cool by the way . At which point I turned to all those around me and warned them of the storm that was about to hit. A 240 lbs storm of flailing limbs, off key screaming singing and general jackassary from yours truly. Every person has one thing about them that is totally embarrassing and inexcusable in every way. Some play Magic The Gathering, some collect dolls, or like show tunes. Me, I rock the F out at concerts. I know it’s lame and annoying but I totally own it, and when you see me coming get ready. At least you can be entertained by mocking me. There’s just something that goes off in me and I could care less how I look or act, in my mind it’s just time to rock. It’s like I’m hoping to be pulled on stage like Courtney Cox in the Bruce Springsteen video to jam on stage. Now there would be a sight. I think I’d give Billy a hernia if he tried to pull my big ass up on stage.
But enough about me, the show was fantastic. Here’s some bootleg video my concert babe Amy took for me at the show, Amy has had the privilege of rocking next to me at many a show. They opened with 4 tunes played together, then Elton for a hour solo, then Billy solo for a hour, then a monster encore ending with Candle In the Wind and Piano Man. Over 3 hours is total, I feel like a Time life music collection commercial right now, over 3 hours of your favorite songs. Special props to the Piano Men for playing some album cuts that weren’t hit singles, Zansabar and Madman Across the Water. Very cool .
Let me tell you folks it just doesn’t get much better than that. I’ve been with my wife for over 10 years, I’ve seen all the kids I’m gonna have be born, I’m going bald fast, I’ve played football in front of 100,000 people,and ate myself sick at the around the world buffet at the Rio in veags, all I have left in my life is moments like last night. And it’s those moments that keep me going. Dance like nobody is watching, love like you’ve never been hurt before and see two rock legends every chance you get.
This video is proof that sports are better enjoyed in a group. At least big games. Unless you’re a diehard and you deem the game floor worthy, in which you isolate yourself in your man cave grab a pillow and head to the ground. My last floor game was game 7 of last year’s Stanley Cup finals, where my beloved Red Wings gacked all over themselves at home and I was left to wallow in my own misery.
You have to love the reaction, after Tracy Porter picked Manning and sealed the game.
You think there was a good time to be had last night down in New Orleans? I’m normally not a huge party in public guy, but that looks like a great time. That was one of the better Super Bowls I can remember watching. Not many people gave the Saints a snow ball’s chance in hell, especially after falling down 10-0. But as the game wore on you got the feeling that if the Saints just kept hanging around we might see something incredible, and incredible it was. Here are some of my random thoughts from the course of the broadcast.
• Always be careful of buying into the hype of one player. You were told all week that Peyton Manning was nothing less than a God and there was no way the Saints could stop him. You never heard about how great the Colts were, just Manning. And one man does not win Super Bowls.
• The Saints had good players too. Despite what Stuart Scott would have you believe the Saints had a good QB as well. They also had some other quality players, you could tell that because they were playing in the Super Bowl, that weren’t just going to bow down to the colts.
• For the first time in a long time, I felt that a sporting event was more than a sporting event. You have to feel good for the entire city or NO. It’s not going to solve all their problems, but for a week or so it will help people forget them. Good for you New Orleans, you deserved something to cheer about.
• Watch how quickly people tear down Manning now. Two days ago he was the greatest of all time, now he’s a chocker that can’t win the big one. Like the Atlanta Braves of the NFL, so good for so long but only one title. How fickle the public can be.
• Dwight Freeney has my upmost respect. That’s a man that laid it all on the line for this game. I hope he didn’t do any permit damage to that ankle, but that was as gusty a performance as you will ever see.
• You can hate Kim Kardashian all you want, and you probably should, but she is smoking hot.
• Thought The Who was solid. But what does it say about todays music that the Super Bowl has to consistently turn to acts like Springsteen, The Who, Paul McCartney, Billy Joel etc to find a musical acts relevant to enough people to play the Super Bowl.
• It was the highest rated TV program of all time. Any doubt about how popular the NFL is?
• Drew Brees will hopefully start to get the credit he deserves. It’s about damn time.
• The Saints will have a hard time keeping this up, they have 27 players in a contract year. That’s a lot of turnover that’s bound to happen. It can be done but players will be poached and keeping that magic and hunger it takes to win a Championship is a very hard task.
• I’ve been flirting for years about being a Saints fan, as I don’t have a NFL team and I always thought that the Saints and Lions could use some more fans. And while I know now I can’t become a full pledged Saints fan now, the bandwagon is already packed, it felt good to see them win. Does this mean I’m a Lions fans now? Yikes!!
I got alot of email yesterday about my decision to not allow my only son Yzerman to play football. Let me clarify here, I’m not condemning the game of football or trying to convince anybody else not to play it. But from the experiences I’ve had and some of the research that’s being done into the effects on the body football can have I’ve made the decision for my family that it’s not worth it. There’s a great piece running right on HBO’s Real Sports about head injuries in football and another one on spinal injuries that all parents should watch. Time magaize also has a cover story this week on the subject of football being too dangerous. These along with the way my body feels every day from over 15 years of football has convinced me that it’s just not worth it. I love football, I think it’s a great game to watch and I enjoyed a lot of the things it brought me in my life. I don’t regret playing but I honestly can tell you I don’t think I would do it again. Every morning I wake up with a numbing burning pain in my neck. My keens and ankles also hurt every day of my life along with a host of other body parts. And every time I get a headache, or forget something, which is often, I stop and wondering if it’s the start of something really bad that I’ve been reading about lately. Football did a lot for me and I made my own choices and was never forced into anything, which is why I won’t be a hypocrite and bash the game now that I’m done with it. But I also know that all those things the game taught me about hard work, friendship, and sacrifice that benefit me every day of my life, my son can get through the sports he plays, soccer, baseball and golf minus the headaches and broken neck I wake up with every day. But my decision isn’t yours nor should it be. It’s why I love this country so much, we are all free to choose our own path. And if your path or your sons path is football, great. It’s a wonderful game with a lot to offer. You just won’t see my son on the field with you. We’ll be watching and cheering from the stands.
Take a look at the most secrect places on Earth and tell me you wouldn’t kill just to get a look into one of these. Some really cool stuff on this list.
I referanced TJ O’Pootertoots on the show, its a fictional bar, and people wanted to know where it came from. Well here you go and don’t ask me why I thought of this or why I even rememeber it. It’s from the Ben Stiller show, a sketch comdey show on fox from the early 90’s. It had some funny moments.
You are on the cusp of your NFL dreams, you get invited to the best All-Star game in the land, where every NFL team will have people there watching your every move. It’s arguably the biggest week of your life. And you show up at 370? Looking like this? Come on now Terrnance, your a All-American and a national champion. Not pretty man, not pretty. Roll Tide.
In all my years of doing this radio show never had I touched on a topic that brought out such hateful emails as when I had the nerve to poke fun at Avatar and suggest that it may be slightly over hyped and that I doubted it was as good as the buzz surrounding it. Nerds and virgins alike went postal on me filling my inbox with fanboy rants and threats. One guy went as far as saying I didn’t deserve the right to see the film or even live for that matter and that he’d already seen it 4 times. The only other thing he has witnessed in his life that could compare was the Lord of the Rings movies, but that I was probably too stupid to recognize their greatness as well. He then went on to say I should probably just kill myself for not being able to appreciate true art. Wow, I’m sure he’s gonna make somebody really happy someday. Ladies, if you want I can forward his email on to you but you might have to get in line for this winner. But I figured if I was going to mock the Avatar nerd I should at least see the film to have a frame of reference. So last night I headed out for a late night 3D showing in Battleground.
I went with a buddy of mine and there was only 2 other people in the theater making me wonder if this was the smallest screening of Avatar ever?
Let me say this before I get into specifics of the film, I enjoyed the movie. I didn’t feel ripped off in any way and was entertained for the most part. Just wanted to get that out of the way before nerds everywhere started to threaten me again.
The 3-d was better than I thought it would be. Certainly a upgrade over Captain E-oh and the Muppets in 3-d which were my last two 3-d experiences. It was a pretty cool effect and some of the stuff did look like it was right in front of you, but life changing? Uh no. 3-d can add to a movie but it doesn’t make one. You wouldn’t buy a crappy car just because it had a awesome stereo would you? It adds to the over all experiences but people are going a little over board saying no movie is complete without 3-d. I don’t think the Godfather needed 3-d to be a great movie. The glasses also were a bit annoying to wear for 3 hours.
The story was good the first time I saw it when it was called Dances With Wolves. Holly hell this thing was ripped off. I kept waiting for John Dunbar and Kicking bird to show up. At least change something so I know you’re not totaling ripping off another movie. The aliens even sounded like Indians. Some originality would have been nice.
I could also go for a toned down political message. I get it, the military is bad, health care sucks, and the earth is our mother and god. Relax there James Cameron, I came to watch a movie not have your beliefs shoved down my throat. There’s a scene about two minutes in where a ex Marine in a wheel chair states that in the future world they can fix a spinal injury but not a Marine’s salary or VA benefits. Real subtle there. At least buy me dinner before you f me.
I think a large reason this movie was so popular with nerds is the fact that for 3 hours you watch big blue toned cat women in g-strings and no tops run around and do cool things. I don’t want to know how many of these young men go home and play Avatar the home game with themselves locked in their parents basements. This is the greatest marketing ploy ever, that James Cameron is a genius.
The Movie was a little long, but like I said I enjoyed it. I got my money’s worth but greatest movie of all time? Come now people, lets be real. It’s good not great. But visually it’s impressive and if you go in with reasonable expectations you won’t be disappointed.
While the timing and suddenness of Mike Bellotti’s departure took many by surprise, the act itself should not. Mike Bellotti is not a athletic director, he is not made to sit behind a desk in a office all day and deal with women’s golf and finding money to ensure the lacrosse team stays in a proper hotel. I’ve covered Bellotti for years and knew that when he took over the AD job it wasn’t going to be a long term gig. I thought he would have lasted a bit longer but in light of recent events I can’t say I blame him. I talked with a guy close to the situation who said the final straw was having to fire Ernie Kent, a man he has know for 13 years and considers a friend and also happens to be his neighbor. It was the culmination of a series of pain in the butt situations that just weren’t fun to deal with. He just simply realized that this wasn’t a job he enjoyed doing every day, and at his stage of life why on earth would y he do anything he didn’t enjoy. He’s a well respected coach, a in demand analyst which he is going to be great at and by the way is a great job with a great quality of life attached to it, has more money than he ever needs, there is just no reason to go to work every day and not enjoy it. That’s what this boils down to, he isn’t running from scandal or responsibility, he’s just moving onto to something he will enjoy and who can blame a man for that. As for Oregon, it’s another blow in a very turbulent filled couple of months. They need to find an AD, a basketball coach, a starting QB, and regain a measure or normalcy and the sooner the better. But I wouldn’t worry duck fan, the sky isn’t exactly falling. I have a feeling by the time football starts the trouble of the last couple of months will be a distant memory. The athletic program is set up for success. Chip Kelly will be fine and his team will win. You should get a quality basketball coach and you have a nice new arena opening soon. That should take some of the sting away, now if you can only find that QB. That task may be the hardest of all. 
