Wednesday: UVa, Tyrod, deer-antler spray and “Alex Rod”
BIG WIN: UVa moves into sole possession of second place in the ACC with a 58-55 victory over No. 19 N.C. State in Charlottesville. Doug has the details here. I was impressed with the rugged interior play last night from freshman Mike Tobey, who had 13 points, seven rebounds and two blocks. The Cavs (15-5, 6-2 ACC) travel to Georgia Tech on Sunday.
‘CANES A COMIN’: Virginia Tech gets a visit tonight from No. 14 Miami, the only team in the ACC that hasn’t lost a conference game. Berman has a preview, as well as some other local college hoops notes, here.
ONE PLAY AWAY: Former Hokie Tyrod Taylor, the backup to Joe Flacco in Baltimore, is preparing as if he’s going to play in the Super Bowl. “If my number is called, I’ll be ready for it,” he says. Andy catches up with Tech’s all-time passing leader here.
ON TO THE EAGLES:
UVa offensive coordinator Bill Lazor is joining Chip Kelly as the quarterbacks coach for the Philadelphia Eagles. The Cavs say they will move quickly to hire his replacement, although moving Tom O’Brien to that role also is an option. Doug has the details here.
SPRAY ‘N’ PLAY: Roger Goodell has to love the publicity his league has been getting during Super Bowl week. First you had Obama saying he wasn’t sure he’d want his son (if he had one) playing football, and now you’ve got Ray Lewis — supposedly one of the fluff stories of this event — denying he used deer-antler extract to recover from his triceps injury.
DENIALS RING HOLLOW: You guys know I’m a Baltimore guy — a No. 52 Ravens jersey, purchased while I was still in college, is the only only piece of NFL garb I own — but I don’t believe Ray or any other football player who says he didn’t take performance enhancers. Doesn’t sound like we can even be sure that deer-antler spray is in fact a performance enhancer, but come on. The denials in these cases are so weak, and defending any of these guys is a good way to make yourself look like an idiot. See: Armstrong, Lance.
SPEAKING OF WHICH: A-Rod’s in the news again. Or perhaps we should call him “Alex Rod” — the extremely clever pseudonym allegedly used by a Florida clinic that may have supplied him with HGH and other performance enhancers. Read all about it here. Nationals pitcher Gio Gonzalez also is among the athletes named in the report in the Miami New Times. Meanwhile, the Yankees are looking for ways they could void Alex Rod’s contract, which still has five years and $114 million on it.
SEEKING A SLICE: Will college players be able to get a cut of television money through the courts? A judge says the antitrust suit led by former UCLA star Ed O’Bannon can proceed.
SLUGGISH SHOWING: I really hope Zman didn’t travel to Houston to see that friendly between the U.S. and Canada last night. In their final tune-up before World Cup qualifying, the heavily favored Americans put in a weak effort in a nil thrill.
IDENTIFY THE MOVIE
“Any zombies out there?”
“Don’t say that!”
“What?”
“That!”
“What?”
“The zed-word. Don’t say it!”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s ridiculous!”
“All right… are there any out there, though?”
“I can’t see any. Maybe it’s not as bad as all that…Oh, no, there they are.”
January 30, 2013 - 8:15 AM
Movie’s Shaun of the Dead….one of my favorite movies!!
“Come and get it! It’s a running buffet! All you can eat!” (from Shaun of the Dead)
“First you had Obama saying he wasn’t sure he’d want his son (if he had one) playing football…”
I’m without question glad my son never wanted to play football. He participated in all others kinds of sports (baseball, soccer — which can be a pretty rough game, basketball, cross country), but when he was little he saw a young Heights Club team doing some idiotic drill where kids took turns inside a circle getting hit by everybody else on the team. Little bitty kids were getting creamed by much larger ones. Some were crying and refusing to get up. My son looked at me and solemnly said, “Dad, I’m NEVER playing football.”
A story that’s being ignored is Vijay Singh openly admitting to an SI reporter that he also took the deer antler stuff. We all know and like to deny that footballers, from HS on up are extremely likely to be ingesting stuff that is unnatural and also possibly illegal.
What’s interesting is that ARod decided to slum out at such a low rent place, when he could have done the Lance Armstrong thing and set up a sophisticated system. I guess he was too busy posing for GQ, etc. to even cheat in an intelligent manner.
What gets me is that somebody somewhere decided to check out deer antlers to see if they helped with putting or batting or tackling. Simply amazing. More amazing that these guys just swallow whatever some goofball tells them will work. Excuse me, spray under their tongue…
That “deer” n the illustration looks more like an elk than any deer I have seen. Not a whitetail, blacktail or mule deer.
I also thought Lewis’ denial was pretty hollow. And short of a denial too.
The pseudonym ‘Alex Rod’ pales in comparison to ‘Ron Mexico’.
The debate on the safety of football and parental concern is now about, well, 110 years long (Teddy Roosevelt’s administration was under pressure to do something about it because of deaths during games). I am tired of this one and believe football can take care of itself.
The Ray Lewis thing. Since his all around honesty, integrity and “good guyness” is now beyong questioning (despite criminal convictions and 9 children and so on) I guess we believe Ray? On the other hand, what provoked Deer-Antler seller to bring this forward on Media Day when you can buy Deer Antler products in any health food store?
A-Rod is a louse. Always was a louse. Is still a louse. Will always be a louse. One only need look at the way he treated that reporter some years ago (and his ex) to know a louse when you see one. There is a reason Jeter keeps the girls longer.
WOW! I warrent mention for last night’s …. well it wasn’t a game …. soccer event in Houston. The only people more bored than those who watched were the players on the field. Of course, lost in the “brilliant” commentary (the guy who called it with Lawless wouldn’t know soccer from duck hunting) and on-field excitement was the fact that this was the 3rd or 4th string. When player after player is “getting their first cap” and the names you know are still with their European teams the play isn;t going to be very good. And it wasn’t.
What shocked me was how poor the overall play was and how limited the skill level. Gatt is fast. But he plays left wing and didn’t use his left foot once. Plus he apparently thinks he has better ball skills than Pele’ since he never thought to pass back to other players. Dribbling through 4 guys and losing it to the 5th is junior league stuff that would get him thrown off Travel Teams.
The guy Feil-something and the right striker (name unremebered) looked like they had a general idea of play. The guys the the announcer praised (the fellow with corn-rows who played defense for example) didn’t deserve it. When they said that particular player had done what Klinsman “wanted” I guess they meant that the guy didn’t score an “own goal”.
Here is the news flash: The difference between our best players and everybody else’s best players is getting smaller. The difference between our next levels down and everybody else’s next level down is light years. Germany can go 40 deep, or more, and you wouldn’t be able to see the difference in play. Only a real pro would see it. If we go 40 deep the last guys play like they just left high school.
I am shocked Klinsey didn’t stroke out. I am also surprised he took the job. I had no idea how bad we were below the top players.
Sure way to kill a sports blog – start talking about soccer when it involves anything other than a female player ripping her jersey off her body.
Shaun of the Dead is correct. Nicely done. ‘Tis a good flick.
Perhaps I should have chosen “Placebo Effect,” because I’m thinking that’s all a lot of this deer antler-type stuff is.
I have developed a new enhancer that is completely legal but it’s only for basketball players. It’s targeted specifically for post guys and anyone who plays in the paint. It’s guaranteed to improve rebounding ability and shot percentage. It’s called Skunk Spray. A few shots of this stuff and you will own the lane. You will be a man by yourself in the middle for sure!
Maybe Ray Lewis should plead guilty to a misdemeanor case of deer antler doping. Yeah, I bought some but didn`t use it. Worked for him 12 years ago. “Hey, Ray I never heard of anyone mounting doe`s head on their wall.” “Well, actually that`s not a doe.” No offense to you or your jersey Aaron; but, I`ll be just as glad when this guy is gone from the scene. Only one more pre game pep talk to sit thru too.
Original Greg with the winning post of the day!
CR, don’t hate on soccer. I still love the sport long after I hung up shin guards, goalie gloves, and cleats.
Deer, elk, moose, wapiti, muntjac, taruca, pudu, huemul. What’s it matter? They’re all the same family!
Agree with Trevor- OG has the winning post of the day.
Trevor, I think CR is trying to provoke me because AM mentioned me. Me. Little old me. And not CR. My ego is so inflated this am.
#11. Ralph, the trouble with Ray Lewis is that ESPN is hiring him as a commentator. If you dislike him now as a person, as I do, just wait until you get a steady ESPN dose of his baloney.
Jim Harbaugh should remember Taylor from the Orange Bowl. Tyrod did a 360 in front of him and threw a touchdown pass then asked Harbaugh if he had gone out of bounds. About our only highlight. Question of the day. Why are the Ravens not referred to as the R`s. Last rant on Ray Lewis for the day. With apologies to E.A Poe, hopefully next week we will hear from Ray, another Raven, Nevermore.
Soccer sucks! Get real with that rant Zman.
Ralph, get ready for even MORE Ray Lewis next year…he has already signed on with ESPN to be one of their lead ‘personalities’ (certainly not ‘experts’) next year…
Soccer is pretty exciting if it’s the right soccer. I’m watching the Madrid/Barcelona match right now. This is about as intense as it gets with soccer. Messi vs. Ronaldo is pretty special stuff.
RP and Zman did not know that. Guess I`ll mute him like I do Brent.
Soccer (or football in Europe) is KING over there. That is nearly all they ever do and I think they take 3 or 4 months off, and then start again. That is why America will never be on the same level as England, Germany, Holland, Italy, Spain, and even Brazil.
Ray Lewis will not be a factor in this Super Bowl. Ray Rice will.
The deer antler issue is not so benign. The antlers are put through processing that extracts IGF-1, a growth hormone similar to HGH. It has the same effect as HGH and reacts with the same receptors as HGH. It’s degree of effectiveness is less certain, and is not used in muscle rehab therapy (according to the AMA). It is also very difficult to detect. It’s long term effects are not known (similar to HGH). If he took the drug, and it’s no placebo it’s a drug, he’s no different from Lance Armstrong. My suspicion is that it cannot be proved on way or another. I’m more sad than mad. Saw Lewis play at Tech and it seemed like he made every, not just some, but every tackle. As mentioned previously by many, great players are often not great people.
Thank goodness Trevor. Why would the USA want to be on the same level as all those other countries you mentioned. American football is what sets us apart in the world. I hope soccer never catches on (professionally) over here.
Welcome back!!!
I grew up playing just about all sports and I remember playing soccer in the 7th grade during gym. Didn’t understand it and thought it was a stupid game. Pretty much thought that all my life. And then I had kids. I have a ninth grader who has played soccer since she was 4 and I’ve been going to soccer games for all those years. It’s come to the point that today I was looking forward to watching the Copa del Rey on tv at 3pm. When I turned on the set, it wasn’t carried by my provider. So I did the same thing I would have done if the Hokies weren’t being shown. I found a bar that carried the game and caught the second half of the Real Madrid v Barcelona match, in Spanish.
Soccer is a game that takes time to learn. But once you take the time, you see that it is a beautiful game. If you had never seen football before, you probably wouldn’t take the time to watch it either because you wouldn’t understand it. And then you’d miss out of the beauty of football too.
If Ray Lewis was not involved in those murders in Atlanta in 2000 then why did he pay the families of the deceased around a gazillion dollars?
” I hope soccer never catches on (professionally) over here.”
There is a professional league called Major League Soccer and it is growing in fan base.
There is more sports than just football, FYI.