I'm back in action after getting home this morning. My computer was totally hosed so I had to roll it back to its original configuration. Needless to say I then had to download all types of stuff again and import data back onto the machine to get it back to a working state. There's my sob story, now back to football.
Drew Henson sat out today's Rhein Fire game with his knee injury and Timmy Chang was pretty pedestrian in a game that the Fire lost 13-10. The Rhein Fire coach is a total idiot. He had the ball deep in the Hamburg Sea Devils territory in the middle of the 4th quarter. But instead of kicking the game-tying FG, he opted to go for it on 4th and 1. Bad mistake. The Sea Devils stuffed the run, took posession of the ball, and the Fire could never get back into FG range. You don't pass up a short FG to tie the game in the 4th quarter, that's nuts.
I think Rhein still has a chance to get into the World Bowl, but they need help.
The people of Irving, TX voted to give their city council the power to stick it to the Cowboys and their fans.
In Irving, the council could levy up to a 10 percent ticket tax and a $3-per-vehicle tax. Taxes would be collected during the Cowboys' final three seasons before they move to a new stadium in Arlington in 2009. A state law allows cities to collect taxes to fund sports and community venues.
The Irving council, however, is no longer interested in implementing a fee of up to $5,000 per game on home and visiting team members. Without the player fees, the city could raise about $15 million in fan taxes.
Sounds like Sean Payton is following in the Bill Parcells mold when dealing with rookie players. Here's Payton's reaction to Reggie Bush coming up a little lame in mini-camp.
"He's been sitting in a limousine too long," Payton quipped, referring to the star treatment Bush has received since turning pro and racking up endorsement deals. "He's fine. These guys all, in his case certainly, are coming from schedules that may not have allowed them to stay in the same shape that they normally would be in-season. He'll be fine."
Sean Payton takes a humorous jab at Bush, reminding him not to take the cheese of the good life. He then says don't worry about it, Bush will be fine, while taking the time to remind Reggie that the NFL isn't college. You better get into shape to play in this league. While all the time, Payton doesn't say anything negative about him. Nice Parcells-like motivation. Translated into Parcells speak, Payton said to Reggie Bush:
"Don't buy into your superstar fame, you haven't played in the NFL yet, so believe me when I say you need to get into shape and work hard. No one is going to hand you anything in this league."
At least one person is going to buy Terrell Owens' book when it comes out around training camp.
"I'll buy the book," McNabb said, smiling. "Try to get it signed maybe. An autographed book. That would be awesome."