2014-15 NFL Week 4: RAISE YOUR BORTLES, BECAUSE IT'S TEDDY TIME

[Dimmauk]

Was that a Juggernaut sighting?

[Abandon]

i was outside setting car tires on fire. WE BACK NIGGAS

[Abandon]

Well Deion, you cant coach speed. fucking lol

[Boyiee]

Holy shit, Olbermann aired the entirety of the Goodell scene from South Park. Fucking fantastic.

[Tymon]

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...li_manning.jpg

I have no words.

[Valisk]

Wow, Mike & Mike had Charles Barkley and Frank Caliendo as Charles Barkley on the phone making picks this morning and Frank does Charles PERFECTLY. I couldn't tell the difference.

[Penthesilea]

the only thing i have learned watching this game is the eagles defense is really bad

even though i already knew that it is good to be reminded

they're bad, but they tend to let scrub QBs have historic career games and then tighten up. Remember Matt Cassel?

[Mertron]

they're bad, but they tend to let scrub QBs have historic career games and then tighten up. Remember Matt Cassel, Kyle Orton, Josh McCown, and Scott Tolzien?

ftfy

[Conrad]

Derock, breaking Madden this week was about teddy

http://www.sbnation.com/2014/9/25/68...dy-bridgewater

[Buffy]

The ESPN Ombudsman responded to the Bill Simmons' suspension.

For those who aren't familiar with the Ombudsman position, they are hired by ESPN to critique ESPN's "television, radio, print and digital offerings". I love the Ombudsman articles, the position rotates every 18 months and some of the articles they write are the very highest quality of anything ESPN's website produces. His position on the Simmons' suspension was interesting to me.

Roger Goodell is the sports world’s villain du jour, but until the NFL’s elevator of investigation reaches the top -- or ESPN delivers a smoking gun that proves when the NFL viewed the Ray Rice video -- the commissioner is not a certified liar.

And Bill Simmons has no license to call him one without more justification than “I’m just saying it.”

Simmons is a columnist, podcast host, NBA analyst and editor-in-chief of ESPN-owned Grantland.com, and he did, in fact, call Goodell a “liar” in a podcast earlier this week. And ESPN in turn suspended him across all platforms for three weeks, citing his failure to meet journalistic “obligations.”

A case could be made that Simmons, who had done excellent work taking Goodell and the NFL to task up to this point, undermined ESPN’s solid journalistic efforts on the Rice story with some Grantland grandstanding. I don’t think that was his intent; Simmons tends to follow his passions as if they were truths, especially in podcasts, where he seems to act as if he is alone with a friend at the bar.

The following snippet of podcast transcription is not the way he writes his column.

“Goodell, if he didn't know what was on that tape, he's a liar,” Simmons said. “I'm just saying it. He is lying. I think that dude is lying. If you put him up on a lie detector test that guy would fail. ... And for him to go in that press conference and pretend otherwise, I was so insulted.”

Well, I was insulted, too. The past two Ombudsman columns had to do with the network’s still-evolving standards and practices guidelines, its inconsistent punishment policy (or lack thereof), and the excellent job it has done covering Rice and Goodell in the current case of domestic violence and its apparent cover-up.

Strengths and weaknesses

Simmons is, in my opinion, ESPN’s franchise player but by no stretch a leading journalist. On his 45th birthday Thursday, my gift to him was recounting my favorite quote from basketball coach Butch van Breda Kolff: “Everyone’s strength is their weakness.” He said he liked it.

In Simmons’ case, it has to do with his driving energy and creativity, which can morph into tunnel vision and self-absorption. What makes him always think that something’s right just because he thinks it is? Or that his sometimes loopy declarations are easy to interpret? Another provocative transcription from that podcast (since pulled by ESPN):

“I really hope somebody calls me or emails me and says I'm in trouble for anything I say about Roger Goodell,” Simmons said. “Because if one person says that to me, I'm going public. You leave me alone. The commissioner's a liar, and I get to talk about that on my podcast. Thank you. … Please, call me and say I'm in trouble. I dare you.”

It sounded a little like Gary Hart’s nutty 1987 dare to the media to catch him in the act of adultery. That challenge eventually denied Hart a presidential bid. In Simmons’ case, the “dare” was widely interpreted as a challenge to ESPN President John Skipper, who just happens to be Simmons’ most important booster at the company. When asked, Simmons refused to comment on whether it was directed at Skipper.

But Skipper certainly thought it was, and that insubordination was one of the main two reasons for the severity of the suspension. Particularly on podcasts, Skipper said, Simmons has a tendency to slip back into his “bad boy, let’s-go-to-Vegas” persona. Simmons, Skipper believes, is transitioning into an important influence and mentor at Grantland and needs to leave his well-worn punkishness behind.

Simmons, in our conversation, alluded to that, as well. He said he sees his podcasts as adhering to different standards than his column, closer to unstructured conversation.

The more important reason for the suspension, Skipper said, had to do with fairness and the difference between commentary and reporting. Both have been on exemplary display of late, as ESPN did its journalism proud covering Rice and Goodell -- including a terrific story arc by Don Van Natta Jr. that chronicled the league's and the Baltimore Ravens’ myriad missteps that led to Rice’s suspension. Skipper said Simmons had to advance the story, bring some evidence, before he could make flat-out charges against anyone.

Almost all of my voluminous mail since ESPN announced the suspension Wednesday has supported Simmons. Connor Nolan of Tucson, Arizona, called the decision “absolutely shameful. Bill Simmons' fiery opinions are what make him a great asset to your organization and silencing him because you don't like what he said or the way he said it is an absolute disgrace.”

Dave Movius of Cleveland took a longer perspective, writing, “It appears that the only debate ESPN truly embraces is the NFL's debate over what programming it wants to bury. ‘Playmakers?’ Gone before the fiction could be revealed as the truth. ‘Frontline?’ Not credible enough for ESPN to cede even a little on-air ‘editorial’ control. Now, Simmons (who I don't even particularly like) says what everyone is thinking -- including the predictably unhappy response by the network -- and ESPN takes the bait, hook, line and sinker. I'm not sure whose skin is thinner: ESPN's or the NFL's.”

Obviously I disagree with both letters, which were typical of others in the mailbag. And including Simmons’, there is plenty of thin skin to go around. But the big issues here are some of the same discussed in recent Ombudsman columns. Is anybody watching the baby? Who reviews content, such as podcasts, before posting? Do the people who review Simmons’ work report to him? Producers and editors are supposed to vet content before it hits the fans, even if the content is generated by a franchise player.

Sometimes that means keeping the reins on network superstars, challenging them, holding them to the highest of standards. That can be hard if you are working for the superstar.

Strengths are weaknesses, and both ESPN and Simmons need to acknowledge, address and take action against that fact if they want to achieve appropriate standards.

[Xajii]

I would hardly call their reporting on the Rice case "terrific". They recently had to publish an article admitting their numerous and egregious journalistic missteps in that investigation when Bisciotti pointed out a bunch of out-of-context / selective editing as well as some straight up fabrications.

Interesting ombudsman piece there nonetheless. I agree - unless Simmons has proof of what he's saying, blowing smoke doesn't do anyone any good.

[tyven]

MOSS WHY IS FRICKIN BARNWELL TAKING THE VIKES +3

[Plow]

2 big things about what Simmons said:

First, for Goodell to claim he didn't know what was on the tape implies you had to see that particular tape to know what happened. You didn't.


Second, if there's one thing I know about the inner workings of professional sports... it's the fact that that meeting (with Rice) flat out does not happen without being recorded. At the absolute least there's a transcript of it.

If Goodell wasn't lying, he would have that recording and have nothing to fear from sharing it, and he would have immediately come out and said "This is exactly what Ray Rice said and here's the recording to prove it."

But he's just a liar.

[Headspace]

lol Redskins have had 3rd and 1-3 yards 17 times this season so far. They've called passing plays on 12 of those 3rd downs. Fucking Jay Gruden

[Bregor]

lol Redskins have had 3rd and 1-3 yards 17 times this season so far. They've called passing plays on 12 of those 3rd downs. Fucking Jay Gruden

They'll never see it coming!

[Krandor]

Alfred Morris is just obviously not the kind of guy who could punch it in for those short yardage situations.

[AidenCarby]

Ray Rice is!

[tyven]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/fo...icle-1.1954366

so a player was accused of rape last saturday and then played sunday. AT LEAST WE KNOW IT'S NOT A BEAR

[Mythe_Seraph]

Not sure if you guys have watched it but A football life: Brandon Marshall is a pretty good episode. Some pretty interesting scenes of him at practice and his little outbursts. Was weird seeing some of them being so recent. Fun watch if you're bored and like the Bears!

[Buffy]

so a player was accused of rape last saturday and then played sunday. AT LEAST WE KNOW IT'S NOT A BEAR

We know this because most Bears players can't get up for the big moment when it matters anyway.