Sep 10
AndrewSports Football, NFL, Pats
The New England Patriots have signed Matt Gutierrez to the practice squad after cutting the 2nd year quarterback just before the beginning of the regular season. Gutierrez could possibly to join the team on the depth chart before the Jets game on Sunday. He would join starting quarterback Matt Cassel (try saying that five times fast) and rookie QB Kevin O’Connell.
All of this made possible by the season-ending knee injury to Tom Brady that was suffered 8 minutes into the first game of the season against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Gutierrez has 5 game appearances for the Patriots in 2007, but only 1 passing attempt (it was a completion for 15 yards if you care) giving him, get this, a career quarterback rating of 118.8. Tom Brady’s career QB rating? 92.9. (Okay, that was cheap. In fact, Brady’s QB rating last season was 117.2.) His strength, though, may be in knowing the Patriot’s playbook and being familiar with the terminology used by the team. The Pats declined to work out veteran quarterbacks on Monday to add to the roster in Brady’s absence. But adding Gutierrez to the practice squad gives them at least the possibility of having a third-string quarterback on the field Sunday.
Sep 07
AndrewSports Football, NFL, Patriots, Tom Brady
Did Tom Brady just take a season ending injury in the second possession of the season? Rumors are swirling that Brady tore a anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee which would conceivably sideline him for the entire season. Brady left the season-opener against the Kansas City Chiefs under his power and his return at the time was questionable. But depending how much truth there is to the diagnosis, that may be the last the Patriots see of him this season.
The Patriots organization typically keeps injuries close to the vest, as Bill Belichick is one of the cagiest head coaches when it comes to disclosure. It may take a day to sort out the truth from the rumor. But if so, that leaves Matt Cassel to take a starting role for the first time since high school. Cassel, a perennial back-up, led the Pats to a win today and completed the game with a respectable 13/18 for 152 yards. Even with an admittedly kind schedule, did the Pats ever plan to play the entire season behind Cassel?
Elsewhere in the AFC East, Brett Favre led the New York Jets to a victory over division-rivals Miami Dolphins, led by former Jets starting quarterback Chad Pennington who was released when the Jets picked up Favre from the Packers. And supposedly, the Buffalo Bills had improved enough to make a legitimate run at a Wild Card spot (they beat NFC favorites the Seattle Seahawks 34-10 today). Unless Cassel has less of a learning curve than we thought, or Brady is faking as usual, the division is suddenly wide open for the taking.
The Patriots next opponent is the New York Jets next Sunday.
Aug 15
AndrewSports baseball, Fan Interference
When a 16-year-old Waltham fan reached over to catch a ball hit by Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz in the game against the Texas Rangers on Tuesday, the umpiring call was fan interference. Ortiz was awarded second base and eventually scored in the same inning. The fan, Steve Falzone, was ejected by Fenway Park security. But according to his family, he wasn’t the one who knocked the ball off of its home run trajectory.
Sox management says the replay clearly shows Falzone at fault, but witnesses nearby claim a 14-year-old fan with a glove was the one who reached out for the ball while it was still in play. Falzone’s family is crying foul over the ejection, not only because it was unfair, but because it was uncalled for.
The game, if you saw it, was a monster. The final score was 17-19 in favor of the Sox. The first inning ended with a 10-0 lead for the Sox. The fifth inning scored 8 runs for Texas and 2 more for the Sox. The outcome went down to the ninth inning, and you could hardly argue that Ortiz’s potential home run could have made a difference. Big Papi scored anyway from second on a home run by Kevin Youkilis.
While no doubt security was following the park’s policies, is fan interference really cause for ejection? And for that matter, isn’t there a time when management should have discretion to modify its own rules, like when the fan being ejected is 16-years-old? And when there was no malicious intent involved (unlike throwing objects on to the field)?
The Boston Herald reported that management’s response was that any other action than the action taken would have undermined the authority of the umpires. That includes, apparently, offering Falzone tickets to another game.
And of course, there’s the nagging issue of whether Falzone was even the culprit in the fan interference call. The upside to the situation is Falzone ended up with the ball as a souvenir, but dare I ask, does ejection come with a lifetime park ban?
Aug 15
AndrewSports Athletes
My usual Friday B.S. column was bumped this week for this love note to Jason Varitek, who it was announced filed for divorce from his wife Karen within the last few weeks. Jason Varitek is quite simply the hottest catcher alive, and no, I only wish that was a veiled gay reference.
If you live in a cave, or anywhere outside of the AL East, Jason Varitek plays the catcher position on the Boston Red Sox and is the team captain. He’s 36-years-old, gray around the temples with the most enormous, muscular calves of any man alive. He has a 2008 batting average of .214, has driven in 32 runs (so far) and keeps fairly consistent stats from year to year which is remarkable because his extended batting slump has been yellowish and bloody. His entire career has been with the Boston Red Sox but he’s is in a contract year and makes $10,442,030 this year. So far, there has been no public announcement of a contract offer, and unfortunately, the Sox have a habit of dropping aging popular players on their physical decline. Tek is a switch hitter, and no, I only wish that was a veiled gay reference.
I don’t really get the celebrity news culture that has Tek’s divorce plastered all over the internet. Sadly, he and his wife have three young daughters, who doubtless will blame themselves for the divorce as all children from good homes do. But the divorce is eye-popping news for fans men and women alike who dream of making Tek their husband.
Tek is a beautiful human. He participated in the Red Sox episode of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (flying in half way through the episode so they could dress him but somehow missing the part of the show that seems to embarrass the straight participants). Unfortunately, the part he was absent for is also the part that includes partial athlete nudity (or in Johnny Damon’s case, almost a full porn video).
I am hardly the only fan who worships Tek, who has never met him, has no real concept of his personality, his personal life, who only knows him from Sox games, NESN interviews, and stats pages. I’m not the only one with an I Heart Tek button, or who swoons whenever he comes up to bat, or dreams to hear those three words out of his lips. I love you.
It is too bad that Tek’s divorce is going to be public fodder (at least in Boston) as will his eventual rebound. It’s unfortunate too that his departure from the Red Sox is all too likely after this season, given the team’s history of treating veteran players. And while I think it’s entirely tacky to express publicly my love for Tek before the ink is dry on his divorce, I do so knowing that in the world out there at large, there a lot of you who are thinking the exact same thing that I am:
YES!
Aug 11
AndrewMusic, Sports
Bruce Springstreen has reportedly signed on to play the halftime show at the Super Bowl on February 1. Springsteen is next in line in what has become an annual tradition to hire old, safe arena rockers for the halftime show since Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson revealed some boob live during Super Bowl XXXVIII. While no one disputes that Springsteen is an icon, Super Bowl execs are not exactly pandering to the younger generations with this pick (nor Paul McCartney or The Rolling Stones…though Prince was inspired. Inspired, but not young.)
Super Bowl XLIII is set for Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, FL.
Aug 07
AndrewSports Football, Trades
Well, the New York Jets finally put the coffin on the Chad Pennington era. About time. Favre is one of my favorite players ever and Green Bay was the first team I followed in professional football because of Favre, just as New England was the second because of Drew Bledsoe. The first Super Bowl that really imprinted on my brain: Pats v. Packers in the 1996 season.
Last season’s almost Packers/Pats Super Bowl was stopped just short when the Packers went down to the New York Giants in the NFC Conference Championship game largely on Favre’s gunslinging arm. For years, Green Bay lived (December 21, 2003) and died by that arm (all of 2005).
Now a Favre/Brady showdown in the AFC East would be…well it is not not a test of loyalties. My loyalty is towards New England and Tom Brady all the way. But somehow the trade today made this whole saga so much more personal for me.
Suddenly, I woke up this morning and instead of the story being just about Favre, a player I worship and have followed his entire career, it’s a story about the Patriots/Jets rivalry. It kind of blows me away.
So I had to dive into the archives back a couple of seasons to see what I’ve written about the Pats/Jets, if nothing else to remind myself just how much I obsess about these two teams.
- 11/12/2006
“The New England Patriots lost to the New York Jets today, marking the first time the team lost back-to-back games since they lost to the Jets on Dec 12, 2002.”
- 01/07/2007
“The Jets were stomped by Patriots in Gillette Stadium in the early game today…The final blow was an Asante Samuel interception of Jets quarterback Chad Pennington, which Samuel returned 36 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.”
- 06/21/07
“there was talk that former protégé Eric Mangini was planning a takedown of his mentor Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots in the wild-card game. Dream on.”
- 12/12/07
“So let’s rephrase the worst case scenario a) Brady plays 60 minutes or b) the Jets are so abysmal that Belichick actually puts Cassel in for the fourth quarter?
“…(never before has Mangini been so thankful for being in the AFC East. It’s two guaranteed under .500 opponents every year.)
“Just because the Patriots have clinched a first round bye, don’t think they aren’t playing for nothing. The perfect regular season record is tantalizing (with only the New York Giants realistically in the way,) and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs goes a long way to an undefeated season, especially deep in January when Gillette Stadium is almost as unfriendly as Lambeau Field. But the real motivation here is revenge, nothing more, nothing less. Mangini ratted out Belichick during their first-week match-up because Belichick was recording signals from the sidelines. The NFL handed down tough sanctions for the violation and now Belichick needs to take a first round draft pick and some salary out of Mangini’s ass. It’s that petty. This game is that personal for the coaches.
“Mangini should consider himself lucky if the Jets only lose by 40.”
and (sigh)
- 12/16/2007: Pats Revenge Scenario Spoiled by Weather
The Jets sent a conditional draft pick to the Green Bay Packers based on their performance in the 2008 season. The trade also includes a clause that prevents New York from trading him to the Minnesota Vikings without an extreme penalty (3 first round picks to the Packers.)
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