Transmissions from the Bunker

I hope we have either Abraham, Ayodele, or Mcginest next year. That would make for one Killer Defence. I can see BP drafting an SOLB since he’s had so much success doing so.

Rafael:
Today King wrote that he just doesn’t think that Bullet Hayes accomplished enough in the league to be a Hall of Famer. I already writed to him saying that bias or not bias, Hayes changed the game and that usually carries Hall of Fame considerations as it wouldn’t be the first time that happens.

I do believe that he has Parcells on his speed dial, he’s a big fan of the NY teams.

Jason Fabini’s the type of prospect that carries a lower salary cap hit and big reward, I’m up for his signing. He will be 32 at the start of next season, but he only has 8 seasons in his body as he entered as a 24 years old rookie. I’m against Mawae, he already is 35, he’s losing some of his strength and he’s undersized.

Hey guys,

As we know, part of the problem with the national media’s take on Cowboy country is that our supposed representative, Goose Gosselin, does such a poor job.

I was eating lunch yesterday and saw a little blurb in the DMN that listed the final “standings” for the staff game picks for the season. It’s quite comical:

Matt Mosley 187-79 (straight, not vs the line)
JJ Taylor 186-80
A bunch of other people
Guest Selectors 159-107
Rick Gosselin 157-109

So, just to clarify, the NFL beat writer for the Morning News, a man universally praised by the national mediots for his knowledge of the game, did the absolute worst at picking games this past year. Even the guest selector, a rotating list of fans, athletes, and entertainers, did better.

I literally LOL in he restaurant.

Rafael:

To me, Peter King is a good example of the whole problem with the AOL/Time Warner media ‘Empire’ he works for. Arrogant, out of touch with their consumer base, isolated, living off the past, and thinking they are above the forces of the free market…both for ideas and in trying to peddle their banality. I have noticed this permeating throughout nearly every segment of their company, and at the same time watched them idly concede valuable ground to their competition by clinging to their old ways. AOL is an obvious one, but CNN, SI, their cable infrastructure, their music empire before they spun it off, TNT, Time/Life, none of these have displayed any ability to adapt to the changes in the media marketplace or compete effectively with their competition. They are all relics of the 1990’s and before. Contrast that with the success of Disney, News Corp., and NBC-Universal during the years since the AOL/Time Warner merger and it’s no wonder a guy like Icahn wants to carve AOL/Time Warner apart and start over.

Peter King works for the perfect employer for him…one that has taken its eye off the ball, is living off the past, and is more concerned with trivialities than getting the job done. I haven’t considered him relevant for going on a decade. He’s like a tree falling in the forest.

The Bobby Carpenter stuff is exactly what I have been thinking about him all along. From seeing him last year against UT, about 1/2 of Michigan before the injury, and Penn St., then the year before in a dominating performance against Oklahoma St. in the bowl game. I could tell in the first few minutes of that bowl game that Ohio State’s LB’s were going to be too much for the ‘other’ OSU to handle.

He’s a REAL linebacker, not a tweener, and I could see him being especially valuable in the 4-2-5 if paired with B-James. He would open things up a LOT for Ware, and I think he will be NFL ready for game 1 of next season, which is what I would expect out of a 1st round pick.

The only thing about him is…I think if the Cowboys want him they are going to have to take him at #18 and forget about trading down because chances are he won’t last more than a few more picks. If he were to get past both the Chiefs and Chargers, which I could see, I can almost guarantee he won’t get past the Patriots. Even if McGinest stays with the Pats in FA (I would give it good odds, since he has been a mainstay there and they will likely pay him just enough to keep him from going elsewhere), I have read that Vrabel is slated to move to ILB next season and they are likely to be wanting to look to the future of their LB’s corps given the importance of the position to the success of their 3-4 scheme and all the injuries, retirements, etc. I also have a feeling Carpenter’s stock is likely to rise after the combines when the scouts get a good look at all he can do see that the ankle injury is not an issue.

Here is the rough formula for a Peter King article: 1) mention tom brady for mvp. 2) next paragraph talk about what a great guy bill belichick’s dad was. 3) logan mankins should be offensive r.o.y. 4) rank the pats #3 in the top 15 and the team that just beat them the day before #10. 5) talk about starbucks 6) write a copule of paragraphs on daughter’s softball team 7) complain about the baby crying on the airplane. 8) other NFL news

Sterling:
Carpenter isn’t expected to go higher for his injury if he’s 100% by the combine time and looks a little better in the OSU Pro Day he would be expected to go earlier. He could even leapfrog Greenway as he could be more useful to Cleveland and his still to be completed roster.

Yes, you make excellent points, Sterling.

What bugs me as a consumer is that they have a chance, a real chance to set up a real, hard-core niche in the sports media market, because ESPN, while still expanding, has become beyond tired. Today’s MNF news adds to the thrombosis that’s slowly killing their rep.

Berman is tired. Vitale was ripped mercilessly in the DMN blog last week of all places, with multiple scribes dropping in to take their shots at him. Keith Olbermann nailed them years ago when he said all of ESPN the magazine and most of their productions are about promoting themselves.

And the shots are all well deserved. I tell friends a story about coming home with my oldest son Jack the day after he was born years ago. I was holding him in front of the TV — this is January — and the early Sportscenter segues into a basketball game Vitale is calling. As I fumble to hold him and get the remote to mute the sound, I whisper, “son, I promise I’ll always love you, stand behind you and do everything I can to make sure you get to adulthood without ever having to hear Dick Vitale’s voice.”

I’ve made it through eight years and have kept my promise so far.

The point is that some serious analysis from somebody with real access would clean up in this hype- saturated sports information landscape.

Which is a circular way of saying you’re right. Why should we expect these short sighted AOL/TW nimrods to suddenly grow the second brain hemisphere they need to do this right? CNN has had ten years to join CBS and/or counterprogram Fox and they continue to think copying #1 is the way. That’s a fundamental programming no-no, the type of mistake that gets local managers fired all the time. So yeah, why should I be surprised?

Raf:

I know what you mean about Vitale, it’s mindboggling how one man can go on and on about absolutely nothing. He reminds me the old James Brown song, “Talking Loud and Sayin’ Nothin’”. If I have to hear one more time about how so-and-so is the next diaper dandy as March Madness nears, I think I may have to watch the Tourney at the cantina with the room noise to drown out Vitale. Get a new saying Dicky, it was old 10 years ago!! I also have a more personal disdain for the man stemming from meeting him in college when he was in town for a big game on ESPN. He was a completely squirrely character, acted like he was paranoid to be walking on a college campus (as if anyone cared who he was), and on a more superficial level he looks like a total goofball. Not only is he short and bald with terrible skin tone, but he has a lazy eye that makes him look like a distant relative of Quasimodo. It’s no wonder he isn’t in coaching anymore, he probably freaked out a lot of the recruits.

ESPN is kind of like the rest of the Disney/ABC company. I have a lot of friends that have or still do work there, and not one of them likes it. Everything is homogenized and made so vanilla that it all turns out feeling terribly “corporate”. Ideas and creativity don’t seem to matter in the modern Disney, ironic since that is how Walt built the whole franchise. They do everything they can to stifle any true genius or risk taking, and reward the yes-men and people who play the office politics game. It’s no wonder they are having to pay such a premium to buy Pixar, they have lost all their in-house people with that kind of talent, and are forced to buy another company in order to have any of that kind of creativity and innovation. It is sad when you consider the history of that company and the impact it has had on culture and entertainment.

Still not as bad as AOL/Time Warner though. They are simply pathetic in every way IMHO.

Regarding News Corp./Fox, I have to at least give them credit for a few things. One is the innovations they have made over the years such as the glowing 1st downs/goallines, the continuous scoreboard/stats during the games, and things like always putting the MPH on a pitch in the corner of the screen on baseball telecasts. These have all been imitated by the other networks, but the first time I ever remember seeing them was on Fox. The second is I can stand their pregame show a lot better than ESPN’s. They all clown around and have fun, but I like Jimmy, Howie, and even Bradshaw over the ESPN guys, with the exception of Irvin because he is on of my all-time favs. I can’t stomach Steve Young and especially Chris Berman and Tom Jackson. At least they have fun on Fox and I also like the way they get commentary from the color analysts on location at each game prior to kickoff. The hot women doing the weather is kind of a nice touch too.

Another thing I like about Fox’s strategy is how they do their regional Fox Sports Networks that cater to the local or regional teams. During baseball season it is nice to turn on FSN or FSN2 nearly any given weeknight and watch the Dodgers with Vin Scully doing a one-man commentary and playing it up to the Dodgers fans like myself. That’s something I miss when I am watching a game on ESPN, and as a result I’m disappointed when I have to watch my team on there. FSN also does a great job with college football and their NBA broadcasts, with commentary that matches the region they are in. I can only imagine it would be similar in other markets.

TNT’s NBA broadcasts are terrible IMHO. Magic, Kenny Smith, and Barkley don’t do anything for me, and other than their big names don’t even hold my attention any better than the ESPN NBA guys. I usually have to be pretty hard up to watch them.

It will be interesting to see how NBC does with NFL next season. They have been out of it for so long, I hope they have taken note of the other networks’ coverage over the intervening period and learned from it.

I should also point out that Jay Glazer seems to be constantly getting the scoops before Mortensen, Paolantonio, and the rest of the ESPN guys in the last few years. I don’t know whether it has to do with the speed with which he posts on the Fox Sports website, or whether he is just better connected, but I have noticed him getting the story ahead of these guys a lot lately. I am not a big fan of Glazer, but I do take what he says and writes seriously as he breaks a lot of big stories first.

Rafael – As a Michigan alum, I can offer a few insights on what’s happening w/the Michigan coaching staff. Lloyd Carr’s job is (at least for now) secure, but alums are going crazy after several seasons where the team has performed well below its expectations and talent-level. So the pressure is on Carr to at least shake up his staff. The fans and alums are most anxious to dump Hermann — his defense has blown too many games and he’s a bad teacher of technique (I’d love to see him leave UM but I’d hate to see him screw up the Cowboys’ young linebackers). But he’s also a big pal of Carr’s, so the sense is that Carr wants to keep him around, or failing that, find a face-saving job for him in the NFL so he won’t have to can or demote his pal.
Meanwhile, English and Loeffler are two good young position coaches who are also great recruiters — and they would bring some much-needed fresh thinking to Michigan’s approach if they were promoted to defensive and offensive coordinator, respectively. A few weeks ago, the UM rumor mill said this might actually happen. But according to the Detroit News, the most Carr offered English was some vague “co-coordinator” position, so English decided he’d had enough and took the Bears job. Meanwhile, Carr has picked re-tread former offensive coordinator Mike DeBoard (also a big Carr pal) to take over the offense again. Tom Brady is a big reason why NE is interested in Loeffler, and I won’t be surprised if he leaves too. Bottom line: Carr doesn’t have cooties, he’s just too loyal to his incompetent pals — so his talented young asst. coaches are getting the hell out. And I can’t say I blame them…
p.s. – even as a UM grad, I would love the Boys to draft Carpenter. He’s a beast and with him, our front 7 starts to look nasty-good.

DCCowboys Fan,

Thanks for the insight. And yes, I do think a really good OLB, any one, would elevate this D to the nasty good level.

AW makes the point and there’s some truth to it, that the offense has much bigger needs than the D. But if you get the D’s level to where they dominate games and are not simply good, you’ll see them win some games where they score only 13 points.

Dr. Z is one of my favourite media guys (from the same place as King) – someone who actually works hard to form his own opinions what are guided by facts and hard-core analysis rather than running with the hype… His All-Pro selections always throw up a few surprises – including our T. Newman as one of the 2 top corners (further endeared him in my eyes). He also didn’t consider Allen and Williams – although I think even hardcore Boys fans would say they were probably marginal picks (particularly Allen).

Carpenter sounds great – was disappointed not to see him in the Bowl game – which they showed down here. Any lingering injury concerns?

I don’t know why this took so long to sink in…but it suddenly hit me. I cannot picture Parcells crying for 5 minutes because Harry Carson got in the HOF. I can believe that he was deeply happy about it, perhaps even feeling an almost paternal sense of pride and joy in his former player’s selection, but crying about it for 5 minutes? Parcells ain’t no Dick Vermeil…and even if he was in private, he sure wouldn’t be divulging that personal information to the likes of Peter King. This reminds me of something that little towelboy John Clayton said on ESPN the other night when he predicted that the Cowboys will have a meltdown next season because Parcells’ tenure with JJ has been “too free of drama the last 3 years”. Huh? What a moron!! Maybe they just happen to work together better than the media drama queens were predicting 3 years ago!!

They won’t have a meltdown because the team is old, or because the talent is poor but because the owner and the coach HAVE to not get along.

Why is that? Because Jimmy and Jerry didn’t get along, so therefore it’s impossible for Jerry to get along with any coach. We say so.

Whatever John. Go back to crying over the fact that your Seahawks laid a giant egg in the Super Bowl.

Rafael:

Precisely my reaction. If there isn’t a story involving JJ or Parcells they will make one up as a “prediction” for the coming season. They got more mileage than they should have about Parcells “retiring”, I guess they need a new storyline now.

Funny, because I can think of at least a half dozen more likely reasons for the Redskins to implode next season: starting with a training camp QB controversy, and ending in assistant coaches with head coaching ambitions throwing each other, Gibbs, and Snyder under the bus publicly when the team hits a slump.

Totally agree with the above with Fox and breaking news quicker than ESPN. Ask some fantasy football folks about that.

Here’s what I said to some of my family when BP was hired. “He’ll coach through his contract and when all is said and done JJ will let him slide into the GM role.”, I know that’s pie in the sky, but I wouldn’t be too offended about it!

BTW – my first entry. I like all of the commentary that I have seen here and appreciate the knowledge and thoughtfulness that takes place. Good job!

Would reccomend this Parcells interview on WFAN on Monday to everyone.

http://wfan.com/homepage/

Hi Everybody!

Regarding King and his silly personal life details:

Oiler Troll still gets to write about Central American brothels here, no?

OT

Hey Oiler Troll, there’s something I wanted to ask you. If the Texans don’t take Vince Young, would that be more like if the Oilers hadn’t taken Earl Campbell, or would not taking Reggie Bush be more like not taking Earl Campbell? Just wondering.

If I was the Texans I would take Young and trade Carr for more draft picks.