Imagine you missed a day of news. Last Wednesday you were skiing in the Rocky Mountains or surfing in Maui. You didn’t check email, you didn’t turn on the TV, you read a book, you went on a hike, you went to sleep without feeling the long, icy fingers of popular culture down your throat. So you woke up Thursday morning and saw this headline:
“Terrell Owens denies having attempted suicide”
Hey? Ragged?
The TO saga has taken us to the pinnacle of homophobia and the nadir of hiphop, to the lush green expanse of a Pennsylvania front lawn perfect for an impromptu sit-up session in the middle of a group of reporters, to a stationary bike in the hot Texas sun in a Lance Armstrong T-shirt stretched over inhumanly large open-receiving muscles. But I bet even the Coen brothers couldn’t have seen that coming.
Whether or not Owens actually tried to take his own life, whether it was a cry for help, whether he’s depressed or disturbed, or just doesn’t care about mixing pharmaceuticals really doesn’t matter to me, nor can I listen to any more radio jesters. waxing rhapsodic on the subject. I don’t want to hear concerned sportswriters like Sports Illustrated’s Michael Silver offer Owens poignant advice, and I’m not particularly interested in watching the press conferences, seeing the police reports, listening to the EMT interviews, or wondering if Owens himself seems sad or downcast. . We are all separated by about seven layers of the “truth” of this matter, and there we will always stay. Some say that where there is smoke, there is fire. Others say that even if it was an accident, there is nothing TO can say to make us believe it. What.
For me, the biggest point of the episode is that, for an NFL team, Terrell Owens just isn’t worth it. It’s a sideshow (albeit a potentially depressing one). He is immature, uneducated and is a traveling circus. There is no production in the field that can make up for the emotional and mental toll that 24/7 creates. Guys like Chad Johnson, Randy Moss, Keyshawn Johnson… they talk, they say things they shouldn’t, but they don’t suck your soul out. Owens does. It is the evil spawn that pushes their parents to drink. He is the troublesome hairstyle that does not sit down. It is a traveling carnival that talks and cannot, intentionally or not, stay out of the maelstrom.
You might be able to win baseball games that way; Reggie Jackson is an example that comes to mind. Goal football demands the subversion of the self. And that’s something that Terrell Owens can and will never do.
At 3-0, do you think the New Orleans Saints are real? Why or why not?
BoDog Bookmakers, BoDog.ws: There’s no denying after watching Monday night’s game that New Orleans is for real at home. They are going to be hard to beat with the energy and atmosphere that the Superdome has with everything that has happened in Louisiana over the last year. Brees looks like a great replacement for Brooks, and the 1-2 combination of McAllister and Bush can cause a lot of trouble for opposing defenses.
Who will be the last team to lose a game in the NFL this season and why?
BDB, BoDog.ws: At this point, seven teams remain unbeaten and many of them look really comfortable. Cincy, Seattle, Chicago, Indy; no real surprises there. San Diego, Baltimore and New Orleans; we may not have expected them. Some interesting things to consider here in the week 4 matchups: San Diego visits Baltimore and Seattle visits Chicago, facing two undefeated teams on Sunday. Indy looks like the favorite to go undefeated longer, playing the Jets this week, Tennessee in Week 5 and bye in Week 6.
What did the furious return of Notre Dame at Michigan State mean for bettors? And what did it mean to you? Do you think the Irish still have a shot at the National Championship? Why or why not?
BDB, BoDog.ws: Notre Dame’s incredible comeback on Saturday was huge for punters taking Notre Dame to -3. At half time, these punters had likely written off any chance of winning, but ended with a push. Those who entered at -3.5 simply missed the cover. For any bettors with a sneak peek on Notre Dame, this was also a great result. For us, the comeback did some damage in terms of teasers coming back into play. Since it was the game of the day, a lot of money was invested in the game. Fortunately, we don’t reserve the entire game at -3; a lot of the action was at -3.5, so we were able to get out on a good note instead of getting stuck for the entire decision at -3. Regardless of the comeback, the Irish don’t look like a National Championship team from the start. In the AP top 25, they currently rank 12th, with USA Today at 14th. They’ve already lost once this year; they will have to be impeccable for the rest of the season to compete again for the National Championship. Resounding home win vs. Purdue this Saturday is an absolute must for the Fighting Irish.
As the baseball playoffs heat up, who do you see winning the National League Wild Card and why? And will the Astros catch the Cardinals in the NL Central?
BDB, BoDog.ws: The National League wild card is in the hands of Los Angeles. Their remaining two series are against Colorado and San Francisco, which should be able to finish easily. That said, if they fail, a hot Philadelphia team (7-3 in their last 10) will knock on the door just one game back and face Washington and Florida to round out the season. Playing in Pittsburgh and Atlanta, Houston definitely has the edge over St. Louis in the matchups. The Cardinals still have to face San Diego, which won’t trust a two-game lead to be enough to seal the division over the Dodgers. St. Louis is no stranger to pressure, though, so look for a 1.5-game lead as the Cardinals seal the NL Central.
