Riggo: Voice of Reason on Portis?

The Redskins are marching toward their 2009 season opener Sept. 13 with the New York Giants in the Meadowlands, and the two most productive running backs in franchise history, John Riggins and Clinton Portis, are stoking the flames. Riggins, the Hall of Famer who led the Redskins to the 1983 Super Bowl title, called out Portis as "a headache" who "has the team over a barrel," referring to Portis' favorable contract status and its adverse impact on the team's salary cap.

Not one to shy from dishing back criticism, Portis offered that Riggins surely was a great Redskins running back, but it was "not hard to be a great running back when you've got that talent all around you," referring to the legendary "Hogs" offensive line anchored by Russ Grimm and Joe Jacoby during Riggins' era.

The feuding only figures to get worse if the new season falls below Redskins fans' expectations. Many NFL sages are labeling the Skins as an 8-8 contender at best and long shot to make the playoffs competing from the rugged NFC East against the Giants, Eagles and Cowboys.

(Continue to DMA 7-22 Sports)

Cardinals See No Evil, Hear No Evil

The Arizona Cardinals are so focused on the season opener with the San Francisco 49ers on Sept. 13 at University of Phoenix Stadium, that they haven't noticed anything else.

All the causes for concern? Never saw them. The 0-4 preseason? Doesn't matter. It's as if it never happened. Heck, Cardinals safety Adrian Wilson is so focused on picking up a Week One victory that he has forgotten the identity of his opponent.

Arizona is so focused on building upon last year's success--a NFC West Division title and a Super Bowl appearance--that no other outside influences matter. The critics say the Cardinals will be one-year wonders. Flukes of the 2008 season. A team primed for a reality check.

Arizona, on the other hand, claims, well, nothing.

(Continue to Arizona Sportspage)

Memories of Jordan, Stockton, Robinson

On Friday, perhaps the best class ever will be enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. In tribute to the Class of 2009, here are some jaw-dropping video career highlights of the Big Three honorees, David Robinson, John Stockton and Michael Jordan.



(Continue to All Net)

What's In a Name?

In our last post, we asked if anyone knew why this blog is called 12 trillion.

It is not a reference to the national deficit or the bailout total. This blog is about the NBA, not the GDP.

If you are a true fan, you know that there is a basketball phrase known as "trillion." It is used to describe an empty boxscore line for a player who got in the game.

Years ago, my job responsibilities included taking dictated long-form NBA boxscores over the telephone. There was no automatic field population from a courtside computer or an entry system that input the player's entire name after entering the first two or three characters. You had to know how to spell every player's name and enter every stat using a system that tabbed through the columns.

(Continue to 12trillion)

Say a Prayer for Ernie Harwell

"For, lo, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of the singing of birds is come,
And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land."

Each year, before the Detroit Tigers' first spring training broadcast, Ernie Harwell would quote that passage from the Song of Solomon.

Although this isn't really related to Notre Dame or college football, we have to take a moment here to say a prayer for the great Harwell, the legendary Tigers' announcer who is dying.

(Continue to Bob Birge's Irish Eyes Are Smiling)

Ali Walks on the Ugly End of Life

Muhammad Ali used to cut a handsome figure, standing tall and proud and often defiantly in the face of opposition that crushed lesser men’s spirit and will.

Ali was "pretty," his body strong and sinewy and sleek. His charisma melted hearts -- or hardened them. He was all that people who chronicled the sport wanted to see in a great fighter: He drew an emotional response.

Not everybody loved Ali; not everybody loved Mother Teresa either. But whatever hatred people harbored for Ali softened as the champ aged.

(Continue to Justice Is Served)

Washing Gilmore Down with Tequila

I tell ya these holiday weekends really reek havoc on the staff of the Grill Room.

With college football finally blowing up all over the place, things got so busy our crew had to redirect many of our wobbly patrons toward other establishments serving tasty sports morsels at World Sports Blogs.

And if that weren't enough...we are still cleaning up this morning after a fairly ugly incident involving ESPN college football 'analyst' Rod Gilmore.

Worse, this sorry scene transpired even before we were able to get into the Tila Tequila (pictured above with Charger LB Shawne Merriman). But more on all that below.

(Continue to The Grill Room)

Book Tide for SEC Title Game

As I was watching No. 5 Alabama put the finishing touches on its 34-24 season-opening victory against No. 7 Virginia Tech Saturday night at the Georgia Dome, I turned to my wife sitting on the couch in front of the TV beside me and told her that we could dispense with the rest of the season and go right to the SEC Championship game between the Crimson Tide and Florida.

An astute football fan in her own right, she replied, “It’s just the first game.”

“But,” I responded, “It’s still going to be the Tide and the Gators.”

Florida was always a lock, but I had my doubts about Alabama -- because of their revamped offensive line, not because of new starting quarterback Greg McElroy.

Continue to Rue's Rant)

What to Do About BYU?

In 1984, BYU went 13-0 and won the national championship - the last consensus national title for any school not in the current BCS conferences. What's largely forgotten is that the Cougars played only four teams that finished with a winning record, the best being Air Force's 8-4.

That won't be the case this year.

Should BYU go undefeated this regular season, its 13th game should be for the BCS national title, because its schedule would be worthy for it.

After upsetting Oklahoma, 14-13, at Cowboys Stadium last night, the Cougars should be ranked in the top five of the polls, the most critical element comprising the BCS standings formula. If they fail to crack the top five, then the Mountain West Conference's mounting grievances against the BCS will have the fiercest argument yet.

(Continue to BCS Guru)

Are These Yankees Like the '98 Yankees?

The Yankees are playing very impressively and winning with the frequency that they won during other years. That is drawing various comparisons to the 1998 team with lines such as machine-like efficiency.

One similarity that seems obvious to me is playing with a fire. If you remember the 1997 team was stunned in the first round by the Indians after winning it all in 1996. The images of Paul O'Neill sliding at second are so vivid and that team had a bunch of gamers who were determined not to let it happen again.

It did not. The Yankees started 1-4 and finished 114-48. This team started 13-15 and was 38-32, so that's a difference.

(Continue to Grand Baseball Concourse)

Rookie Pitchers Give Orioles Hope

Chugging frightfully toward a possible 100-loss season, the Baltimore Orioles somehow showed up on national television Saturday with those throw-back Negro League uniforms, topping the playoff-contending Texas Rangers 5-4 on Fox's Game of the Week.

Major League Baseball fans know diamond-ball in the Baltimore -Washington market is bad this year and has been that way for too many seasons to want to count. With 26 games to go in the 2009 season, the Orioles, and the region's other MLB franchise, are sitting on 81 and 90 losses, respectively.

(Continue to DMA 7-22 Sports)

Your 2009 NFL Standings

Like everyone else, I like to try my hand at the ol' NFL predictions, so here they are.

Warning: I don't know any more than you do.


A couple of clarifications:

-I would give these picks, especially the extremes (15-1 and 1-15, for example) a +/- 2 margin of error.

(Continue to 200 Miles From the Citi)

Tough to Hide from the Turk

Saturday around the NFL was akin to to April 15th for the rest of us. Just like that dreaded tax deadline, the final cutdown day for all 32 teams is the least fun day of the year for all involved.

From the coaches' perspective, this is the part of the job they hate, when they have to tell players they have come to know and respect that they just don't fit into their plans and they need to turn in their playbook and uniform.

Many times it's a young kid fresh out of college who gave everything throughout training camp, maybe even fought through injury to try and earn a spot but there just wasn't any room at his position. Other times it's a seasoned veteran like Zach Thomas, beloved by Miami Dolphins fans young and old, who isn't ready to hang up the cleats just yet but a team like the Kansas City Chiefs couldn't find a place for his battered body, so now he has to hold out hope that there's a team out there willing to give him one more shot.

(Continue to NFL Guru)

Chiefs Cut Thomas; Next Stop: Miami?

Last week, a rumor circulated saying former Miami Dolphins linebacker Zach Thomas was set to retire.

Agent Drew Rosehaus denied it, but it may become a reality sooner than Thomas thinks. Sunday, the seven-time Pro Bowler was cut by Kansas City after failing to appear in any preseason games.

The question is: What now? Does Thomas hang up his cleats, and hope to one day hear his name called for the Hall of Fame?

Or, does he decide on one more regular season run, perhaps with the Dolphins?

(Continue to Dolphins Watch)

Bucs Soon to Find Out What They Got

Raheem Morris finally has his squad in place and it looks nothing like the 2008 Buccaneers of Jon Gruden.

Byron Leftwich will lead this team into battle against Dallas next Sunday and his immediate backup will be the Wonder Boy -- Josh Freeman. And that means that this team is one really good lick away from Morris and Mark Dominik's self-fulfilling prophecy.

It's not far fetched that Leftwich can get knocked out of a game, anytime. He's a perfect target in the pocket and you know that Dallas can produce a pass rush. But if all goes to Morris' plan, these Buccaneer will run the ball over and around Dallas and keep the 'Boys guessing when big ole Byron will wind up the windmill and hit an open receiver.

(Continue to Buccaneer Bow Shots)