If you just showed up and things look a little different, they are. We’re in the process of moving things over to our new system — something we should have done a year ago. Please be patient while we try to figure this whole thing out. We hope you like the changes. More to come.
You can go back and listen to all our old shows by clicking the link on the right side.
With all apologies to the fine folks at Fire Joe Morgan, who took columnist dissection to a whole new level, we break down the most recent column of PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER COLUMNIST Stephen A. Smith.
SAS talks about how Donovan McNabb and Andy Reid are linked forever. It’s a new concept, it seems. He thinks that they should both be back, but if people want McNabb gone, he thinks Reid should be gone too. Rather than break it down here, just give it a listen. And if you think we went overboard, consider it a birthday present to myself.
“Ooh, I got a poorly constructed column to dissect! It’s what I always wanted! And it’s wrapped in newsprint…how clever.”
Thanks for indulging us. Be safe in the snow.
Josh Zerkle from With Leather joins the show to give his recap of our time in Vegas. For more on that, read his recap at With Leather, or mine at TSB, or watch the video I put together.
And no, we don’t go through a hand-by-hand recap of the tournament. It’s more about the time in Vegas, the people we saw and the bets we made. Fun times.
Nick and I are back and we run through the Super Bowl, albeit a day late.
Culture Pop:
We also tackle the Super Bowl commercials to give some of our favorite and least favorite spots in the game. (For more on my favorites, check The Sporting Blog.)
Housekeeping:
And we talk about Vegas. A lot more on that in the next few days, but I’ll give you this: I finished 14th in the Trash Talk Championship of the World. The guys at Victory Poker were very gracious and equally as cool to hang out with. I had the best seat in the house, with a cast of pros and celebrities surrounding me. Just a great time was had by all.
With the snow about to crush the East Coast, I got an earlier flight, so I have to hustle. Didn’t want to not put up our official picks, so that’s what this is.
Follow me on Twitter to get updates from Vegas, and stop by The Sporting Blog for some highlights of the Trash Talk Championship.
Have a great weekend. Be safe. Go….Super Bowl!
So if you can’t tell by the headline, we talk about food today. Sarah Sprague from Black and Gold Tchotchkes joins the show to talk about her 14 Days of Super Bowl Recipes. Amazing work.
But first, Nick and I talk about National Signing day, focusing not just on the teams this year, but taking a look back at some previous years to see if the five star locks held up. Fun stuff to look back from a few years ago to see how the recrutniks fared.
The Weekend That Is = FOOD.
Sarah, aka TheStarterWife on the interwebs, has your Super Bowl Party covered. We run through nearly the full list of her recipes, and she talks about how simple some of them really are to make.
And we get so into this food stuff we actually talk about the rehydration process of peas, only do dehydrate them again to be coated in wasabi. Yes, a twice dehydrated pea!
We talk about the lack of native cuisine to Indianapolis, which is what led to her picking Sugar Cream Pie to go up against N’awlins Jambalaya in her Super Bowl city cook-off.
She has pretzel bread, so we talk about the potential for blasphemy with regard to screwing with the soft pretzel. But she is a Steelers fan and has Pittsburgh roots, so she knows the importance of the pretzel to this part of the country. Oh, and the Mac and Cheese bites look incredible.
And yes, she has blueberry salsa and made her own chips to go with them. Folks, she’s doing the Lord’s work. Go read everything, like, NOW.
Chris Littmann from The Sporting Blog joins the show from Miami to talk about media day. We run though what the event was like and talk about some of the highlights. Honestly, rather than read it here, go check out the great coverage at TSB from Littmann and Tunison, who I am calling the Crockett and Tubbs of the Sporting News team.
Football Talk:
Nick and I follow up the football talk with more football talk. Really.
We discuss the two major ankle stories this week, including the one where Warren Sapp is adamant that Dwight Freeney won’t play this Sunday because he didn’t have his ankle wrapped or iced during the ONE HOUR of media day. Methinks he’s talking just to talk. Oh, and the other story? Favre. Whodathunkit?
A different kind of show. In our middle segment, we steal some audio from this week’s Joe Sports Fan Show, with guests Josh Zerkle and….me. Consider it a teaser and a plug for the Vegas event all in one.
But first, Nick and I discuss the rumor mongering going around the internet about Pittsburgh going to the BIG TEN. From the looks of it, the rumor started on an OSU message board and Bleacher Report, the least reliable content network for news and information around. So of course, newspaper websites link to the rumors, thus making them more valid, and in turn, setting the internet ablaze.
It’s an issue of gatekeeping, but also of trusting what you read and making sure you illustrate what’s rumor and what’s sourced information. Nick brings up the 96-team NCAA tournament rumor that came up yesterday and we discuss how we, even at TSB or on this show or wherever any of you write, need to figure out if a rumor on SbB is more or less valid than a rumor somewhere else. To parallel the situations, we talk about Bleacher Report. If the same report Brooks posted was on Bleacher Report, we never would have linked to it. That’s just the way it goes. And there are some good writers on that network, but by and large, it’s the Wild Wild West. Clearly, a reporter in Kansas City didn’t know that when he linked to them. Or maybe he did.
Is there a lesson? Not sure, really. But it is good practice to not trust everything you read on the internet as fact, especially when it comes from a message board.
Tech Talk:
We steal some sound from the JSF show talking about what celebrity we’d want in a booth for an inning or a drive in football. Good stuff with Matt Sebek, Josh Bacott and Josh Zerkle on this segment.
We throw a lot at you on this show. First, Will Carroll from Baseball Prospectus joins the show to talk about, what else, FOOTBALL!
Carroll is an Indianapolis guy, so I wanted to get his take on the scene in Indy. Is it the euphoria like in New Orleans or more of a “been there done that” after winning a Super Bowl not too long ago?
We discuss the depth of the Colts and how losing Dwight Freeney may not be that big a deal. Oh, and we talk about Freeney’s ankle in a conversation that may or may not make sense after reports that he might have torn ligaments and not just a sprain.
But, it wouldn’t be right to have Carroll on and not talk a little baseball. We discuss the PECOTA rankings and try to figure out if throwing a dart against a wall is more or less accurate than their division winners. Note, I will not be betting any houses against the Yankees making the playoffs.
We also talk about the state of the labor unions in the major sports. Could we see a 2011 without any professional sports? Not likely, but it is, in a way, possible.
