Water Cooler – September 28th, 2010
Here we go with today’s sports water cooler talk. Here, you won’t just find the straight news; you’ll find the stuff everyone is talking about – the ice breakers, the Twitter Sports Picks and topics…well, basically all the stuff you discuss at the water cooler.
Enjoy!
The NFL leads off today’s news with a trade rumor and potential scheduling changes.
NFL news: Marshawn Lynch on the block after all? Polian believes 18-game schedule is a lock; HOF quarterback Blanda dies
The Buffalo Bills don’t think they fooled anyone, do they? They had a 1,000-yard runner in Fred Jackson and drafted dynamite college back C.J. Spiller yet gave Marshawn Lynch the lion’s share of the carries over the last two weeks. Clearly, they were shopping Lynch all along.
The Bills have finally admitted that they’ll start hearing offers for Lynch. It’s no secret that the Packers should be first in line, as Brandon Jackson simply hasn’t been the answer in their backfield. Buffalo also cut bait on Trent Edwards, releasing him a day after Ryan Fitzpatrick drew the start at quarterback and vastly outperformed Edwards.
Indianapolis Colts general manager Bill Polian, an NFL competition committee member, said Monday on his weekly radio show that he sees the 18-game schedule expansion proposal as a done deal.
“I think that the owners, and principally the commissioner, have decided that it’s the way to go, and so the debate, such as it was, is over, he said. The NFL hasn’t announced anything officially, however.
Football said goodbye to a Hall-of-Famer yesterday. Quarterback George Blanda, the longest tenured pro football player of all time at 26 years, passed away. He was 83 years old. Blanda played 10 seasons with the Bears, one with the Colts, seven with the Oilers and nine with the Raiders before retiring at age 48 before the 1976 season.
MLB news: Driver convicted of murder in Nick Adenhart trial; Longoria, Price call out fans
Andrew Gallo drove the car that killed Los Angeles Angels prospect Nick Adenhart and two of his friends last year; he was drunk. Now he faces 50 years to life in prison for second-degree murder.
Gallo was convicted on three counts of second-degree murder and single counts of hit-and-run driving, driving under the influence of alcohol and causing great bodily injury. The conviction was upped to murder on the grounds that he had a prior DUI conviction and thus knew of the dangers associated with drunk driving.
The Tampa Bay Rays had a chance to clinch a playoff spot last night – in front of just 12,446 fans. Evan Longoria wasn’t happy about the turnout. He Tweeted: “We go out there and play hard for 162 games and for the fans to show the kind of support they’re showing right now, you kind of wonder what else you have to do as a player.”
David Price joined in, Tweeting “Had a chance to clinch a post season spot tonight with about 10,000 fans in the stands…embarrassing.”
Both guys have drawn media criticism already – but I side with them. It’s extremely difficult to make the playoffs in Major League Baseball, especially in the American League East, so shouldn’t fans cherish the rare years when their team has a shot at the World Series? I don’t blame Longoria and Price at all for their frustration.
Comments are welcome below!
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