NFL 2014 offseason/draft thread

[Havok]

Yeah. I don't root for players. I root for teams. Fantasy football is just a cog in the narcissism machine that is slithering into our culture.

[houser2112]

I stopped playing FF when I found myself cheering for Cowboys players because they happened to be on my team. As a Giants fan, this is distasteful in the extreme.

[Thanas]

A surprisingly good article on the biggest scumbag currently on the Ravens roster. I share the writer's scepticism.

[Alferd Packer]

Thanks for sharing that, that was a really interesting piece. Like you and the writer, I am skeptical about the depth of Rice's remorse.What I found most interesting was Harbaugh's take. Well, actually, I found it almost offensive. It sounds like the only reason Harbaugh's supporting Rice is because of Harbaugh's religious beliefs. I have to think an irreligious coach would've been more likely to have been much harsher in his judgement and actions.

As I've said before, I feel that Ray Rice genuinely made a mistake. I also feel that there are some mistakes which should have permanent and irrevocable consequences, and losing your temper and beating a woman to unconsciousness is one of them. And that's the sticking point that I just can't get past at the moment. And maybe, collectively, we shouldn't.

Oh, and something that just leapt to mind: during the Rutgers football games, in between the first and second quarters, they roll a video package on the big screen of current Rutgers NFL players. Usually Ray Rice is saved for last and gets a big cheer. I wonder if they're even going to show him and, if they do, if he'll be resoundingly booed as I suspect he will.

[Thanas]

http://deadspin.com/why-your-team-sucks ... 1617529298
http://deadspin.com/why-your-team-sucks ... 1618139918


Finally, the first two from the current series I agree with wholeheartedly.

EDIT: Two, not one.

[Elfdart]

Damn!

[Elfdart]

One of the Deadspin posters demonstrates the sheer sadness of the Colts' "Ring of Honor":

Current members of the Colts' Ring of Honor:

Robert Irsay: snuck the team out of Baltimore in the middle of the night

Bill Brooks: career best 1,131 receiving yards ranks 354th in league history.

Ted Marchibroda: led the team to 30-34 record in Indianapolis

Jim Harbaugh: asshole

Tony Dungy: religious bigot asshole

Chris Hinton: two-time Super Bowl winning QB; NFL MVP; Hall of Fame inductee — oh wait, that's the guy the Colts traded away to get this above-average offensive lineman

12th Man: retired when team moved to open-air stadium; only real skill was being very quiet when Peyton was on the field

Marvin Harrison: killed a guy

Edgerrin James: only set foot Indianapolis when contractually obligated to; smart man

Marshall Faulk: was really good for the Rams

Eric Dickerson: was really good for the Rams

Holy shit!

[Elfdart]

They may have gone too far this time:

If you think the Ray Rice suspension was light, just remember Goodell did absolutely nothing when Marshawn Lynch did the same thing to the entire Saints defense in the 2011 Wild Card game.

[GuppyShark]

This is my favourite:

I'm a New Orleans transplant who until recently worked at a bar in the city. Every Sunday, employees would wear Saints jerseys. Since I collect throwbacks, I decided to buy an Archie Manning jersey to wear to work. Hey, everyone down here claims to be "a lifelong Saints fan," so surely they'd appreciate the organization's first quarterback/one of only four retired numbers in team history, right?

To date, maybe three people I've interacted with while wearing it didn't bother asking me outright whose jersey it was. One of them was Archie Manning himself. He was literally shoved out of the way by some mouth-breathing hick in a Drew Brees jersey who asked me where I got "dat custom jersah wid yo name awn da back."

[Thanas]

LOL BROWNS

Glad we didn't take that guy.

[GuppyShark]

I sometimes wonder if you've been replaced with a parody account.

It takes a particular type of hubris to gloat about the rookie running back of a division rival embarassing himself by hitting on unattainable women on Instagram while you're still weathering the aftereffects of Ray Rice hitting on women in a significantly less hilarious fashion.

[Elfdart]

Hank Bauer, would you please shut the fuck up?

Chargers Broadcaster Makes On-Air Joke About How Jews Are Cheap

You've probably heard the old anti-Semitic joke about the invention of copper wire coming as a result of dropping a penny between two Jews. If you haven't, San Diego Chargers radio analyst Hank Bauer is here to tell it to you.

This is from the final seconds of this weekend's broadcast of the Chargers-49ers game on 105.3 KIOZ; the target of Bauer's joke is the presumably Jewish San Diego play-by-play voice Josh Lewin. (It came in response to Lewin's observation that while many 49ers fans had left the game early, if he were a paying customer he'd stay until the final whistle.)

Bauer's been associated with the Chargers for decades, so we wouldn't expect any kind of punishment to come of this. After all, with 30 seconds left in a meaningless preseason game, how many people could have actually been listening anyway?

[KIOZ]

h/t And

I realize that most of Bauer's appeal comes from him being a dumbass who has taken way too many shots to the head, but the copper wire joke?

[Thanas]

Why your team sucks for the ravens has been oddly disappointing. Basically just a rip of a PR article.

[Thanas]

New thread here.