The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

Like with Boston Bruins' goaltender Tim Thomas skipping the White House visit after his team won the Stanley Cup last year due to politics, center for the 2012-2013 Super Bowl Champion Baltimore Ravens - Matt Birk - did likewise. I wrote a blog about Thomas' action and I will just copy and paste the tail end of that for this occasion: "I thought about Thomas' actions for a few minutes. I'm all for a person expressing his or her opinion, for making a political statement (so long as it's non-violent), but don't support his decision here. I may not agree with Thomas' politics, but that isn't the reason I feel this way. He can believe whatever he wants to believe. That's his right. The reason I feel this way is because I think it was a selfish gesture on Thomas' behalf to both his teammates and the organization. Instead of the media's focus being on the Bruins' celebrating their Stanley Cup Trophy at the White House, it wa...

Super Bowl-winning quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens - Joe Flacco - was rewarded for his spectacular playoff efforts by becoming the highest paid player in NFL history (for now) when he was offered (and accepted) a six-year deal worth $120.6 million. What has resulted since the Flacco signing for the Ravens? In addition to future Hall-of-Fame linebacker Ray Lewis and center Matt Birk retiring, Baltimore: traded veteran wide receiver Anquan Boldin to San Francisco, released safety Bernard Pollard and guard Bobbie Williams, and lost linebackers Dannell Ellerbe (Miami), Paul Krueger (Cleveland) and cornerback Cary Williams (Philadelphia) to free agency. Veteran free safety Ed Reed will likely land elsewhere as well. To this point, the Ravens have lost two starters on offense (and a back-up) and four on defense (as well as a back-up) - five if Reed takes his services elsewhere. To this point, Baltimore has also yet to sign their: 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-string tight ends (Ed Dickson, Denn...

Baltimore Ravens' Super Bowl-winning quarterback Joe Flacco is currently a free agent and some members of the media are claiming he should be the highest-paid quarterback in the NFL. While I think Baltimore would be wise to hang on to Flacco, especially given his great run in the playoffs this past season, I don't think the guy should be one of the top-paid quarterbacks in the league. Throughout his career to this point, Flacco has been fairly average as far as completion percentage goes and a little above average as far as quarterback rating is concerned. He has shown himself to be a capable starter, but has been aided a great deal by the talent around him: Tailback Ray Rice, fullback Vonta Leach, receivers Anquan Boldin, Jacoby Jones, and Torrey Smith, along with a top-notch defense. He's also been blessed with having a great coach in John Harbaugh. Following his great run through the playoffs and earning the Super Bowl MVP honor, Flacco deserves to receive a nice contrac...

Most of the sports-world has heard by now that Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco was caught saying, "This is f**king awesome!" after his Ravens defeated the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl this past Sunday night. Over the past couple days, Flacco - who was the MVP of the Super Bowl - has been starring front and center in a commercial where he states that he's going to Disneyworld. In light of these two events, rumor has it that while the commercial is only 30 seconds in duration, it took Flacco several hours of takes to get things right. For whatever reason, he kept saying, "I'm going to Disneyworld and it's going to be f**king awesome!" http://www.961kiss.com/pages/freakshow.html?article=10769779 http://www.thebiglead.com/index.php/2013/02/03/joe-flacco-winning-the-super-bowl-is-f-ing-awesome-vide/?source=top-modules

There's a great deal of talk about the no-call in the final minutes of the Super Bowl last night between the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers. Down 34-29 late in the 4th quarter and facing a 4th and goal from the 5-yard line, 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick flung the ball high in the air toward wideout Michael Crabtree. The ball stretched just out of the reach of the receiver, which resulted in Baltimore retaining possession and being all but guaranteed the victory. Just after the play, Crabtree and especially head coach Jim Harbaugh were infuriated that pass interference or holding wasn't called on Ravens cornerback Jimmy Smith. If Smith had been called for either, it would have set the 49ers up inside the 3-yard line with a 1st and goal, which would have given them an excellent opportunity of taking the lead and possibly even winning the game. Baltimore wound up taking a safety with four seconds remaining and after tackling Ted Ginn Jr. on the free kick return, the...

Why is it that so many athletes feel that they're God's chosen ones? While I would probably label myself as an agnostic and don't necessarily believe in a higher power, this kind of thinking still puzzles me. Following the Baltimore Ravens' 28-13 win over the New England Patriots in yesterday's AFC Championship Game, vaulting them to the Super Bowl to face the San Francisco 49ers in a couple weeks, Pro-Bowl and future Hall-of-Fame linebacker Ray Lewis thanked God first and foremost, talked about God believing in him, God's plan for he and his team, and I don't remember what else. While I respect Mr. Lewis' religious beliefs generally speaking, I have trouble understanding or agreeing with him that the Ravens are going to the Super Bowl because it was part of God's plan. Lewis isn't the first such athlete to say such things before, of course. It seems like approximately 2 out of 5 times I hear an athlete speak after attaining success in a g...

ESPN Insider Field Yates posted what I felt was an unintentionally humorously titled article this morning. It was entitled, "Baltimore Ravens can go long." This was in response to the Ravens' 38-35 overtime win over the Denver Broncos yesterday, vaulting them to the AFC Championship Game to face either the New England Patriots or the Houston Texans. The win was largely aided by a couple of long pass plays. I think Yates was attempting to be cleverly ambiguous with his title, suggesting that the Ravens can go a long way into the playoffs and may be able to do this by going long (in the passing game). However, I think he fell short in being clever. When I first read the title of the article, I chuckled, and thought, "So, you really think the Baltimore Ravens can go a long way into the playoffs, do you? Was this before or after they beat Denver yesterday to reach the final four of professional football, so to speak? After? Wow! That's quite something! If they win ne...

For the second time in two weeks, the Philadelphia Eagles turned the ball over at least four times (five last week) and for the second time in two weeks, they won by a single point. The Philadelphia Eagles have turned the ball over nine times in their first two games (six interceptions and three fumbles) and yet have found a way to hang around in both games before quarterback Michael Vick has led them to a go-ahead touchdown in the final minutes. Looking at the turnover situation, I honestly have no idea how the Eagles are 2-0, yet looking at all the other statistics, I have no idea how they wouldn't be either. On Sunday against the always solid Ravens defense the Eagles converted 26 first downs, were 7 for 15 on 3rd down (46.7%), gained 486 total yards (129 on the ground and 357 through the air) and held onto the ball for 34:21. While the team only averaged 3.1 yards per carry, the Eagles averaged 11.2 yards per pass attempt and 6.5 yards per play. On the season, the Eagles ...