#6 NFWF Podcast
Posted: March 6, 2012 Filed under: Podcasts | Tags: Free Agency, March Madness, NCAA Basketball, NFL, podcasts, seahawks, uw, WSU Leave a comment »I wish we had more to say for ourselves, but we don’t. But hey! It’s back! After ringing up about $28 in unused LibSyn hosting (free money you guys, don’t go spending it all in one place) we figured after a hiatus, it’s back. Consistently? Who knows! Life is unpredictable! Live it to the fullest!
So sit back, fire up your favorite podcast catcher (with the Feedburner link in the top right), iTunes or Zune (I think!) and get our takes on:
- UW Basketball Tournament Chances
- Seahawks Free Agency Moves
- WSU Post Leach Era, So Far.
Enjoy!
Protecting The Money
Posted: March 5, 2012 Filed under: Editorial, NFL | Tags: bounties, Gregg Williams, injuries, money, New Orleans Saints, NFL, thousands Leave a comment »The NFL isn’t concerned with injuries, just injuries to a chosen few. We all know who they are.
Posterboys.
Ticket sellers.
The guys that pose in front of bathroom mirrors with razors, shill boots and push home and auto insurance onto the masses.
One large issue looming around the Saints, Redskins, and probably every team in the NFL is that the targets of these bounties aren’t on Joe Sixth-Rounder, throwing his body down the turf on a special teams play in an un-ceremonious fashion. It’s a target on the big players, the men who help the NFL push their business model into the billions of dollars while most of the league humps it for their version of minimum wage.
The NFL has now started investigating these allegations now that they have come to light. This will now begin some of the bigger witch-hunts in professional sports behind PED’s in Major League Baseball in our lifetime.
The general consensus I feel from reading the web, catching some sports radio from time to time and some discussions I have had with a few sports fans is that this probably has been going on for forever, and really isn’t that upsetting. The NFL is an extremely violent contact sport.
The wiring it takes to not only play this game, but to coach it at this level requires a little bit of a screw loose. The ones who orchestrates this on Sundays have insatiable thirst to demolish the opponent, whether they wear a headset or they have a mic in their helmet on game day. This mentality is what got them there, and they aren’t going to abandon it now.
For those who play this game, they play with a bounty system in their heads. If they knock out player X, and player X is really good, the chances of the team winning the game have become better. I find it laughable that the NFL thinks that a fine of a few thousand bucks to a group of guys who make well into the mid-six figures would even find it motivational. When you get to that level, chances are you want to hurt your opponent.
The line that has to be seen and crossed is if this had led to rules of the game being broken, and “dirty play” increased during those seasons in which it is said that this was to be going on.
Were measures that were against the rules of the NFL (as it regards to playing a game on Sunday) as they stood during those years being broken and lead to more injuries? Would the players that people would expect to have a bounty on their head, has their frequency of being injured increased?
My bounty bet? The game looks exactly the same. It always will.
I Am Good On Peyton Manning
Posted: February 20, 2012 Filed under: Editorial, NFL | Tags: Andrew Luck, colts, draft, Football, Griffin, Manning, neck, NFL, Peyton, RG3, seahawks, Weeden Leave a comment »
Are you counting neck surgeries? I think you are wrong.
The deadline looms for the Colts and Peyton Manning to make a decision about his future in Indy. Will he be cut before the roster bonus? Will Indy keep him and draft Andrew Luck (or RG3 – holding out hope) anyways and pay two quarterbacks more than the GDP that Indy puts out in a year?
Nobody knows exactly what is going to happen, so of course the speculation has been rampant since the last game of the season in which Indy cemented their pick atop the 2012 Draft. The prevailing rumor mill has Peyton being dismissed for the guy with the craziest neck beard in California and Peyton hitting the market.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Peyton as a person. I think he is a great role model for countless kids across the country, learning how to play QB the right way as well as carrying himself in a professional manner. It is arguable that he will go down as one of the greatest to play, despite his brother finding a way to win more Super Bowls than him at this point in their careers.
But to be perfectly honest, Peyton has had more neck surgeries than most WWE wrestlers will ever have, all in the course of a year. Bones have been fused, nerves aren’t quite the same and his main issue is that he can’t feel the triceps on his throwing arm. That’s a pretty big issue for a quarterback, let alone a human being that likes to use said arm. So with that being said, of course he is being linked to Seattle.
I am not a huge Tavaris fan. I think Tavaris is serviceable, and if given time (as he likes to hold the ball) he can make plays well enough to get this team through a few victories next year. Some would argue that even Peyton with a dead arm is probably better than Tavaris, or Peyton going with his off arm may be more accurate than Jackson. However, for a team that is reloading at all positions with youth, I don’t think going and getting a 35+ year old QB with a neck made up of solder & Gorilla Glue is the best option for the Hawks. Between you and me, I would like to see Peyton go into the Hall of Fame sans a head halo, and at this point he seems to be on that route.
So this is my call out to Pete – let’s explore trading down and getting a QB in the 2nd or 3rd, maybe even later where these guys like to pan out. Matty Flynn, everyone’s back-up-QB-turned-starter-de-jour was taken in the 7th round. Here’s my vote for Brandon Weeden (yes, I know he is old, but still about 10 years younger that Manning) with that 2nd round pick. Now that’s something I can get behind.
Jeremy Lin is Nothing Like Tim Tebow
Posted: February 18, 2012 Filed under: General Sports, NBA, NFL | Tags: jeremy, lin, linsanity, NBA, NFL, tebow, tim 1 Comment »
Linsanity is taking over every sports outlet. As with any frenzy or mania, there starts to be comparisons to the last one. The comparison to Jeremy Lin that keeps coming up is how he is like Tim Tebow. These two are nothing alike.
Coming out of high school Tebow was a highly touted recruit. He went to one of the most prestigious football schools in America, Florida. The new Jesus played in and won two national championships in Florida. Oh, and he went on some little trophy call the Heisman. He was already one of the most popular players in all of football before ever getting to the NFL. The Broncos traded up and took Tebow in the first round of the NFL draft. Fans in Denver begged for Kyle Orton to get benched in favor of Tebow. When Denver played at Miami, the Dolphins had a Tim Tebow day. How does a home team celebrate a player on the other team? Because everyone loved him. Tebow was basically known by everyone in America before he ever started a game in the NFL.
Jeremy Lin had a harder time getting to play in an NBA game. Lin couldn’t even get an athletic scholarship to his hometown college of Stanford. He played basketball at Harvard, hardly known for its athletics, Ivy league schools don’t even give athletic scholarships. After finishing up his four years at Harvard and getting his degree, Lin applied for the NBA draft but wasn’t taken. The Golden State Warriors signed him as a free agent to a partially guaranteed contract out of college. He played in 29 games but didn’t even average 10 minutes a game. He bounced between the NBA and the NBDL throughout last season. The Warriors cut him before this season. The Houston Rockets claimed him off of waivers but eventually let him go before he played in any regular season games. He was picked up off of waivers by the New York Knicks. He was only on the team temporarily until Baron Davis came back from injury. It took a bunch of injuries, including another one to Davis to get a shot. Lin came in during a game against the New Jersey Nets and went “H.A.M.” for 25 points and 7 assists. He started the next seven games. Almost no one knew who Jeremy Lin was before that game.
Another difference between the two is their level of play during games. Lin actually is playing well during this stretch of 7-1 for the Knicks. Tebow didn’t play well at all. The Broncos defense was playing insanely well during Broncos run to the playoffs. In 11 regular season starts, Tebow went 7-4 and didn’t carry the team at all in most of those games. Tebow had a completion percentage of 46.7, which is terrible for an NFL quarterback. Tebow was 34th in the NFL in completion percentage, which most of you know there are only 32 teams. Jeremy Lin’s shooting percentage was 50.4 during his run. Which would be 23rd in the NBA, with only two other guards in the top 25. Tebow threw for an average of 150 yards per game. Lin averaged 24.6 points a game and 8.6 assist per game. Lin’s numbers haven’t been matched by anyone in NBA history during the first seven starts of a career.
Another factor in the frenzy is race. It can’t be ignored. A few people have gone about bringing it up the wrong way. Floyd Mayweather said on Twitter that the only reason people care about Lin’s success is because he is Asian. That is ridiculous! That isn’t the only reason. It, however, is part of the reason. There has never been an Asian-American starter in NBA history. This does add to the intrigue of the story. We have seen the white quarterback that was a superstar in college go on to have an excellent NFL career. Lin is bringing an aspect to the NBA that has never been seen before, which opens our minds and breaks down stereotypes that have been in place with the NBA for years.
One other major difference is that half the people loved Tebow and the other half hated him. Lin seems to have almost everyone on his side. Both guys are men of faith. Tebow seemed to use his fame as a platform to promote his religion. That gets under people’s skin. Lin wants to become a pastor after his playing career but isn’t using his fame to push his religion. ESPN has covered them both to an extreme but Lin’s play has justified his coverage, Tebow’s not so much. That could have been another reason for all the dislike of Tebow.
It will be interesting to see how each of their careers play out. We will see how each will affect the game they are playing and the people watching them. I am going to go have a few “Lin” and tonics and hopefully I am not Tebowing over a toilet later.
Cundiff Should Kick a 32-yarder into Strahan’s Goalposts
Posted: January 23, 2012 Filed under: Editorial, NFL | Tags: 49ers, afc, billy, cundiff, giants, nfc, NFL, patriots, Playoffs, ravens Leave a comment »How many plays in Michael Strahan’s career did he have a direct influence on the final score of a game?
"Ask me how many points I scored in this victory!!!" - Strahan
In looking over his career stats, courtesy of our friends at Pro-Football-Reference.com (not really our friends, I don’t know the guys who run this but it seems like the chappy way to introduce their hard work into the blog here), Strahan has scored a total of 20 points in his whole career. Three touchdowns and one safety. Now these were not just regular TD’s scored by Strahan. Two of them gave the Giants the lead. One was against my beloved Seahawks. I already forgot about it though, considering it was Christmas Eve-Eve and face it – 2001 really was a long time ago.
One of these scores even won a game for New York, in OT.
So after a few minutes of looking at Cundiff’s stats, I was rather impressed at his body of work in terms of directly influcing the outcome of a game in comparison to Strahan.
Cundiff has scored 596 total points with 132 field goals successfully kicked, and 200 extra points converted. Through 2010, 38 of these field goals gave his team the lead, and 8 of them tied the game up.
So when I read on Deadspin that after his extremely unfortunate shank to tie the game up against New England this past weekend, Strahan called for his job. ”I’d say, ‘If you’re back here next year, we got a problem,’ “ Strahan said.
76% of the time Cundiff steps up to the plate, he scores for his team. If I could find the statistical analysis of played downs by Strahan and how many points he scored, or to make it fair, every time he sacked a QB or dropped a runner for a loss (NOT plays that DIRECTLY influence the score of the game), something tells me that Mr. Subway isn’t hitting at a 76% success rate. Hell, I would even throw just any tackle into that mix, and he isn’t anywhere near 76%.
So Strahan – you were a really good defensive lineman. Some would argue that you were one of best. But man, you must have been a crappy teammate. I hope others had a problem with you in the locker room by letting you know that the 76% sack rate on plays from scrimmage wasn’t being met, and you were a failure.
Congrats on the game Billy, apparently it was just you that lost the game. Not Lee Evans, or anyone else. Just you bud.
2011 NFL Season Predictions
Posted: September 8, 2011 Filed under: NFL | Tags: adrian, afc, andre, brees, buccaneers, chargers, colts, cowboys, drew, eagles, falcons, haden, jets, joe, johnson, miller, moss, most interceptions, most passing yards, most receptions, most rushing yards, most sacks, most tackles, nfc, NFL, owens, packers, patrick, patriots, peterson, Playoffs, predictions, rams, randy, ravens, steelers, super bowl, terrell, von, willis Leave a comment »
The NFL season starts tomorrow. It was really dicey there for a bit, but the season has really started. I personally don’t count the preseason. Those games are a joke to watch. Everyone has their favorite teams and hopes of a Super Bowl win. Some hopes are bigger than others. Let’s face it the Cincinnati Bengals probably won’t win it this year. No Fair Weather Fans has composed the predictions for this season for you, the fan. Some are a little outradgeous, some are a little bit of a reach and some are in the same thought process of most.
Playoff Teams
#1 SEED
New England Patriots (East) (Ben) Green Bay Packers (North) (Ben)
New England Patriots (East) (Brad) Green Bay Packers (North)(Brad)
New York Jets (East) (Ryan) Atlanta Falcons (South) (Ryan)
Baltimore Ravens (North) (Xtina) Green Bay Packers (North) (Xtina)
#2 SEED
Baltimore Ravens (North) (Ben) Philadelphia Eagles (East) (Ben)
Pittsburgh Steelers (North) (Brad) New Orleans Saints (South) (Brad)
Pittsbrugh Steelers (North)(Ryan) Green Bay Packers (North) (Ryan)
New England Patriots (East ) (Xtina) Atlanta Falcons (South) (Xtina)
#3 SEED
San Diego Chargers (West) (Ben) Atlanta Falcons (South) (Ben)
San Diego Chargers (West) (Brad) Philadelphia Eagles (East) (Brad)
San Diego Chargers (West) (Ryan) Philadelphia Eagles (East) (Ryan)
Indianapolis Colts (Wild Card) (Xtina) Philadelphia Eagles (East) (Xtina)
#4 SEED
Indianapolis Colts (South) (Ben) St. Louis Rams (West) (Ben)
Houston Texans (South) (Brad) Seattle Seahawks (West) (Brad)
Houston Texans (South) (Ryan) Seattle Seahawks (West) (Ryan)
Kansas City Chiefs (South) (Xtina) Seattle Seahawks (West) (Xtina)
Wild Card Teams
#5 SEED
New York Jets (Wild Card) (Ben) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Wild Card) (Ben)
Indianapolis Colts (Wild Card) (Brad) Dallas Cowboys (Wild Card) (Brad)
New England Patriots (Wild Card) (Ryan) New Orleans Saints (Wild Card) (Ryan)
New York Jets (Wild Card) (Xtina) New Orleans Saints (Wild Card) (Xtina)
#6 SEED
Pittsburgh Steelers (Wild Card) (Ben) Dallas Cowboys (Wild Card) (Ben)
Baltimore Ravens (Wild Card) (Brad) New York Giants (Wild Card) (Brad)
Baltimore Ravens (Wild Card) (Ryan) Dallas Cowboys (Wild Card) (Ryan)
Pittsburgh Steelers (Wild Card) (Xtina) New York Giants (Wild Card) (Xtina)
Most Passing Yards
Drew Brees - New Orleans Saints (Ben)
Phillip Rivers – San Diego (Brad)
Aaron Rogers – Green Bay (Xtina)
Matt Schaub – Houston Texans (Ryan)
Most Rushing Yards
Adrian Peters0n – Minnesota Vikings (Ben)
Chris Johnson - Tennessee Titans (Brad)
Chris Johnson – Tennessee Titans (Xtina)
Chris Johnson – Tennessee Titans (Ryan)
Most Receiving Yards
Andre Johnson – Houston Texans (Ben)
Calvin Johnson – Detroit Lions (Brad)
Larry Fitzgerald – Arizona Cardinals (Xtina)
Dez Bryant – Dallas Cowboys (Ryan)
Most Tackles
Patrick Willis – San Fransisco 49ers (Ben)
Lofa Tatupu - UFA (Brad)
Derek Johnson – Kansas City Chiefs (Xtina)
Chad Greenway – Minnesota Vikings (Ryan)
Most Interceptions
Joe Haden – Cleveland Browns (Ben)
Earl Thomas – Seattle Seahawks (Brad)
Ed Reed – Baltimore Ravens (Xtina)
DeAngelo Hall – Washington Redskins (Ryan)
Most Sacks
Von Miller – Denver Broncos (Ben)
Ndamukong Suh – Detroit Lions (Brad)
AJ Hawk – Green Bay Packers (Xtina)
Clay Matthews – Green Bay Packers (Ryan)
Super Bowl
Atlanta Falcons - 24 vs New York Jets - 16 (Ben)
San Diego Chargers 31 vs Philadelphia Eagles 7 (Brad)
Baltimore Ravens 21 vs Philadelphia Eagles 17 (Xtina)
Pittsburgh Steelers 27 vs Atlanta Falcons 23 (Ryan)
Bold Prediction
Both Terrell Owens and Randy Moss with have playoff receptions. (Ben)
Vick goes down for cockfighting ring in Philippines (Brad)
Matt Forte and Plaxico Burress both will have career years after being released from prison. (Xtina)
Pete Carroll gets suspended for 4 games by Goodell after he found evidence proving Carroll forced Mike Williams to gain 150 lbs. a few years ago, then get back in shape and become the Seahawks’ leading receiver. (Ryan)
Hey NFL, I Have Backup Plansl
Posted: July 9, 2011 Filed under: NFL | Tags: chris johnson, dwayne bowe, harry potter, lockout, NFL, seahawks, tauren, tom brady, twilight, uw, wes welker, world of warcraft, WSU 2 Comments »
Enough is enough with this lockout ! It has been 116 days. I have heard it has been close to being over, like, 19 times. If its close, let’s get it done. I started joking early on about in lockout that there wouldn’t be a season. Now, I am starting to think there really might not be one. This has made me start thinking about what to do if the season doesn’t go down. Read the rest of this entry »
Why Are NFL Players Seriously Always in Trouble?
Posted: May 24, 2011 Filed under: NFL | Tags: crime, NFL, ray lewis, trouble Leave a comment »
Yesterday, I was visiting my little brother at Stafford Creek Correctional Center and it got me thinking about all the problems NFL players have had with run-ins with the law. Then, I read on the way home about Ray Lewis saying it is only going to get worse with the lockout. What is the deal? Hey guys, you have millions of dollars to lose! Well, at least, hundreds of thousands. Read the rest of this entry »
The First Podcast
Posted: May 16, 2011 Filed under: General Announcements, Podcasts | Tags: Cam Newton, humor, NFL, podcast, UW Huskies, WSU 3 Comments »After 1.5 hours of recording, about a week to edit, and another 1.5 hours of fooling around with all of the various places to upload, customize and primp and prime, the first No Fair Weather Fans podcast #1 is in the books.
I promise that with time, that these will come faster after recording, edited skillfully, and only provide the most hard-hitting sports analysis you can find on the internet. However, at this time, it is clearly amateur hour, but we want you to grow with us.
So below is the embedded link, where you can listen with all your heart’s desire. You will also notice our fancy new sidebar with our Twitter accounts, posts, and yes, the podcast feed. Feel free to drop this into your favorite processing application.
I have also started the process to get us set up in iTunes as well as Zune. Then you won’t have an excuse. I know these iPhones & Windows Phones can browse directly on the device and you can download. Imagine the fun!
Click here to listen right in YO BROWSER
@UFLCommissioner – Draft in 140 Characters or Less
Posted: May 3, 2011 Filed under: UFL | Tags: Culpepper, Football, Glanville, NFL, Sacramento, Twitter, UFL Leave a comment »Like the World Football League, World League of American Football, the USFL and the XFL before it, the UFL held it’s annual draft tonight to fill out the rosters of its five teams in an attempt to either supplement the NFL, or give it competition during this current labor crisis.
Normally, the drafts of leagues that generally have a shelf life up there with Raisin Bran are not worth spending much time on unless you like to scour the rosters of these teams for former favorite players, or guys from the PAC-12 that you remember. For example, Daunte Culpepper still has a job as a QB, which gives me just general “life hope” about my professional career.
While similar colors to UCF, this isn't a shot of Daunte in his college days...
What made this draft unique compared to those technological luddite leagues before this is that the entire draft was held on Twitter.
To be fair, I am sure the World League could have figured something out with America Online to get a chat room going in the sports channel, granted if they freed up an office line for them to connect via a 56k modem. However, for a league though that is run about as lean as it can get, I am sure keeping costs down are paramount.
With each coach firing off his selections via their Twitter accounts, players were taken off the board with various experience levels in professional football. Some had played in the NFL in the past and are now free agents (which currently means they cannot sign with another NFL team) or college un-drafted free agents in which the league would like to have signed under contract before the NFL figures out their labor situation.
You can catch a recap of the entire draft here – but I will share my one highlight of the draft with you below. Emphasis is my own added below.
#12 OVERALL – OMAHA NIGHTHAWKS – OT JOE TOLEDO, WASHINGTON
Toledo was a fourth-round pick of the Miami Dolphins in the 2006 NFL Draft, although he has yet to appear in a regular-season NFL game. He also was on the San Francisco 49ers’ practice squad for the entire 2008 NFL season. Toledo slipped down in this draft due to some perceived character flaws, which included stealing the team issue shorts from walk-ons at the University of Washington during his time there. He blatantly wore them around during workouts even though the number screen printed on them was not his own.
