Thursday, November 11, 2021

Sports this 'n' that

Suddenly, the rich are getting richer in the NFC West.

Just days after acquiring Von Miller from Denver in a trade deadline deal, the Los Angeles Rams added to an already star-studded receiving corps by signing Odell Beckham, Jr., who was cut by Cleveland earlier in the week. Beckham had fallen into the trap of the "disease of me" because he wasn't getting as many catches as he's accustomed to, and while he goes from one playoff contender to another, he's going to have the same situation in LA as he did in Cleveland. That is, the perception that he won't be the #1 target until he can build up enough trust in QB Matthew Stafford to earn the right to be the #1 target on a team that already has Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods, among others.

Speaking of Stafford, the Rams have ended up being the big winners in the trade with Detroit that brought Stafford to LA. Jared Goff and the Lions are in a familiar place, in the NFC North basement, and staring down the barrel of another winless season. The Rams have to hope Beckham, who gave up his dream team pairing with fellow LSU alum Jarvis Landry, remembers how to be a team player.
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Maybe they'll have yogurt in the Carolina Panthers' clubhouse again, as early as Sunday.

With Sam Darnold benched, and PJ Walker, the XFL phenom more than 18 months ago, struggling, the Panthers brought back prodigal son Cam Newton.


Photo courtesy Yahoo!.

Newton, who played with New England last year, and was made expendable when the Patriots drafted Mac Jones, has fallen victim to the law of diminishing returns the last couple of years. If Carolina wants to escape the cellar in the NFC South, and climb past Atlanta, New Orleans, and division leader Tampa Bay, they need to learn, quickly, if Newton can adjust to coach Matt Ruhle's system.

To think there were rumors that the Panthers were willing to trade star running back Christian McCaffrey a couple of weeks ago. Yeah, right.
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We are learning about some very bizarre locker room behavior involving a high school hockey team in Massachusetts.

At Danvers High, they designate specific days where players either willingly or reluctantly will use racial slurs (Fridays) or strip and, under the cover of darkness, run the risk of inappropriate touching (Tuesdays). The saddest part about this is, administration would rather cover this up, filing it under, kids being kids, than cooperate with law enforcement.

We know a few political perverts who'd love to learn about this.
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We also must address the tactics of NFL referee Tony Corrente during Monday's Bears-Steelers game.

A controversial taunting penalty against Chicago negated a 4th quarter sack. Worse, Corrente is alleged to have intentionally made physical contact with the Bears player called for the taunt. Now, Corrente has held his flags at inappropriate times in the past, usually in games involving New England when a certain QB was still with the team, but he got called out by NBC's Chris Simms (son of CBS' Phil Simms). Sooner or later, the league will have no choice but to take stock in the lack of discipline meted out to supposedly corrupt zebras.
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The Mets made qualifiying offers to free-agents-to-be Noah Syndergaard and Michael Conforto the other day. Conforto declined, listening to the bad advice of his leech, Scott "20 Mule Team" Boras, who tried to explain Conforto's lackluster 2021 start away with excuses about COVID.

These are the sort of tactics Boras Badenov likes to use to fleece teams into overpaying for his clients. In this case, he won't find a sucker. Mets owner Steve Cohen has deep enough pockets to retain both Conforto & Syndergaard, re-sign Javier Baez, and build a contender for 2022 and beyond.


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