And Another Thing | Journal Gazette

The commish blacks out

Ben Smith — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:39:00 EST

So I'm listening to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on the radio this morning, and I'm driving at the same time -- which is not recommended in the safety manual, kiddies, because sometimes the commish says stuff that nearly makes a rational man drive into a ditch.

We interrupt this Blob for a shameless display of bragging

Ben Smith — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:35:00 EST

So Darrelle Revis has come in from the cold and signed with the Jets. Don't want to say I told ya so, but I told ya so

Punchline of the day

Ben Smith — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 19:22:00 EST

... arises from the apparently erroneous report that Reggie Bush was about to be relieved of his Heisman Trophy

Boise State 1, BCS 0

Ben Smith — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 10:03:00 EST

I'm not as convinced as the rest of the chattering class that Boise State really made much of a statement last night by squeaking past Virginia Tech 33-30.

Leinart update: Someone called.

Ben Smith — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 09:58:00 EST

Fantasy football alert: Matt Leinart has signed with the Houston Texans.

My name is Matt. Call me.

Ben Smith — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 16:41:00 EST

The luckiest people in the world today are all those who didn't burn a fantasy pick on Matt Leinart. Buy 'em a beer.

Why college football is great, if you didn't know that already

Ben Smith — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 16:23:00 EST

A few random brain spasms from a week in which I saw two college football games in 48 hours and was reminded once again why the college game outrocks the pros in the Numbingly Formal League: * Paint a giant letter in the school colors of his choice on the bare chest of

Da prediction

Ben Smith — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 13:51:00 EST

SOUTH BEND -- So here I am at Notre Dame for the Brian Kelly debut extravaganza, and already there are grim portents: On the walk through the tailgaters to the stadium, I did not see the obligatory small-dustmop-shaped-dog-dressed-in-an-ND-jersey.

Things that make me go "What th-?"

Ben Smith — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:30:00 EST

Strangeness abounds ...

Today's senior moment

Ben Smith — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:03:00 EST

... belongs to 84-year-old Chris Chelios (OK, so he's only 48), who has finally, reluctantly, decided to retire from professional hockey as a player after 26 years

More on a death at Indy

Ben Smith — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:42:00 EST

I've had a chance now to put down eight hours of sleep between the death of 13-year-old motorcycle racer Peter Lenz and what I think about it. And what I think hasn't changed.

Play of the year

Ben Smith — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:17:00 EST

And now, in honor of football ramping up in earnest ...

Let the second-guessing begin

Ben Smith — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 13:16:00 EST

Remember two months ago, when Stephen Strasburg struck out 14 in his major-league debut and everyone was oohing and ahhing about his flawless mechanics and easy motion?

Death on a Sunday

Ben Smith — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 17:09:00 EST

There has always been a sense of both occasion and impending doom at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as one might expect at a facility that has seen 67 people die in its 101 years of existence.

Walk it off, dude

The Journal Gazette — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 11:52:00 EST

Today's absolutely true news item:

I, robot

Ben Smith — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:23:00 EST

The last thing Tiger Woods needs to do is give us no more of himself than he did this week in addressing the finalization of his divorce.

Why golf is bizarre, Part Three

Ben Smith — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 18:55:00 EST

Because the battery on his cellphone died, killing his alarm, Jim Furyk overslept and was late for his tee time today.

We don't hold with no book-learnin'

Ben Smith — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 21:28:00 EST

Shake your bony fist at Fort Wayne Community Schools superintendent Wendy Robinson all you want. At least she still subscribes to the quaint notion that education should be Job One.

This just in: Dog bites man

Ben Smith — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 19:57:00 EST

And now, fresh from the Blob's That's Not News desk ... Tom Brady doesn't think the New York Jets are, you know, swell

Touch a match to the gasoline, boys

Ben Smith — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 19:54:00 EST

... or in other words, Manny Ramirez and Ozzie Guillen could soon be sharing a clubhouse.

Why golf is a bizarre game, Part Deux

Ben Smith — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 10:13:00 EST

Part One, of course, being the whole bunker thing at the PGA Championship, when rules officials basically made players guess what was a bunker and what wasn't by allowing spectators to traipse through them at will.

Sweetly, Lou bows out

Ben Smith — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 19:07:00 EST

In the end, there was a hollow place inside. Lou Piniella, failing to rage against the dying of the light? Passing on more chance to spew some lava for and/or at the media.

Clemens on the bump; the Big House at bat

Ben Smith — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 03:00:00 EST

Roger Clemens is in a heap o' trouble, and here's why.

Today's village idiot, Part Deux

Ben Smith — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 10:17:00 EST

... and it also comes from the SEC, where if you say, "People here are crazy about football," you're apparently not speaking rhetorically.

Today's village idiot

Ben Smith — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 09:49:00 EST

Congratulations, Dan Storrs. You are Da Man.

And now, the live transcripts of the Brett Favre intervention

Ben Smith — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 13:10:00 EST

So now that Jared Allen, Ryan Longwell and Steve Hutchinson have gone to Hattiesburg, Miss., and physically dragged the endlessly dithering Brett Favre back to Minnesota, I have a few ideas what was really said to close the deal:

The Giants win the pennant, one last time

Ben Smith — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 13:24:00 EST

And now, to comemmorate Bobby Thomson going to his reward ...

Bunker mentality

Ben Smith — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 13:58:00 EST

I've slept on it. I've thought about it. I've spent two hours in the car listening to various radio poodles yap about it ad nauseum, spending way too much time on a topic that, let's face it, isn't exactly the political climate in Pakistan.

A matter of tempo

Ben Smith — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 19:20:00 EST

The big story out of the PGA today, at least here on the Blob, was not the bad juju of Dustin Johnson (A two-stroke penalty for grounding his club in a hazard? Isn't the whole course a hazard?), the agonies of poor Nick Watney or the failure, once more, of Tiger Woods to show up on Sunday at a major.

Peyton Manning does not get hurt, and other good news

Ben Smith — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 19:08:00 EST

The good news being, at least it didn't count.

Somebody get HBO on the horn

Ben Smith — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 21:28:00 EST

Jose Canseco has turned up in Laredo, Texas, and not because he's on the run from all the irate dopers he's outed.

In so many words, there weren't enough words

Ben Smith — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 11:17:00 EST

So just to clear something up ... new USC athletic director Pat Haden now says Reggie Bush did NOT say he was sorry the other day, even though he was sorry.

Punk'd

Ben Smith — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 11:26:00 EST

I love Charles Barkley. He's more fun than 10 clowns in a Volkswagen. Sometimes, though, he just says dumb stuff.

Your conspiracy theory for today

Ben Smith — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 18:33:00 EST

On the general theory that nothing is more pleasing than putting ESPN on every metaphorical grass knoll, I have a Second Gunman theory to explain why FIFA is contemplating changing the rules on overtime to eliminate ties in the World Cup

Some stuff you can count on

Ben Smith — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 10:34:00 EST

The Blob is not generally a betting zone -- the only time I was on the Strip in Vegas, I played the slots for five minutes and then said, "OK, what else is there to do." -- but if it were a betting zone, here are a couple of things you might want to lay some coin on:

A dog, homework, and Brian Cushing

Ben Smith — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 22:59:00 EST

Many thanks today to Houston Texans' linebacker Brian Cushing, who has not only provided fresh Blob fodder (for which we are always appreciative), but another clip of ammo for those times when we require, um, explanation under duress.

And he's seen Bigfoot, too. For real.

Ben Smith — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 18:14:00 EST

I'm not really all that up to speed on the NBA's drug testing policy. So I don't really know if it includes analysts.

Road warriors

Ben Smith — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 18:12:00 EST

One man's opinion: The duel between Juan Pablo Montoya and Marcos Ambrose at Watkins Glen Sunday was some of the best racing of the year in NASCAR.

A medical miracle

Ben Smith — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 11:18:00 EST

Perhaps Washington Redskins defensive end Albert Haynesworth visited Lourdes between yesterday and today. Or perhaps he took one more look at Mike Shanahan's Thousand-Yard Stare O' Death and decided that, you know, the guy was serious after all.

And now a word from the End Times

Ben Smith — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 11:49:00 EST

This just in: The New York Knicks' crazier-than-your-Uncle-Al owner, Jim Dolan, has decided to hire back Isiah Thomas as a consultant

Big Ten football goes soft

Ben Smith — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 11:30:00 EST

Once upon a time the Big Ten was a conference where Woody Hayes took on blizzards in his shirtsleeves, where he and Bo Schembechler traded off-tackle runs like punches, where tough guys reigned and everyone else played at Northwestern or IU.

No ado about not much

Ben Smith — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 08:08:00 EST

Alex Rodriguez finally hit his 600th home run yesterday, an occasion marked by a remarkable lack of occasion, or so media types like this guy

Going after Lance

Ben Smith — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 08:17:00 EST

It's been fascinating, to use one word that applies, to watch public reaction to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and federal prosecutor Jeff Novitzki's probe into PED use in cycling, a probe that centers on 7-time Tour de France champ Lance Armstrong.

Brett Favre is not retired! Yet! Or still!

Ben Smith — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 08:03:00 EST

Twenty-four hours after everyone rolled out the retrospectives on his career, Brett Favre says (of course) not so fast, Bub

Another bad omen?

Ben Smith — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 08:44:00 EST

Maybe it's because all those empty seats at the Brickyard were still on my mind, but I noticed something Sunday afternoon that I might not have noticed otherwise.

Brett Favre retiring! Again! No, really!

Ben Smith — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 12:03:00 EST

Big news out of the NFL today: Brett Favre is reportedly calling it quits.

A bad idea whose time has come

Ben Smith — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 18:20:00 EST

Sometimes you wonder just who's driving the bus in NASCAR, or if anyone is, or, if someone is driving, if they ever consult a GPS.

Once a Trojan ...

Ben Smith — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 18:40:00 EST

I'm of two minds about Reggie Bush.

What dreams may come

Ben Smith — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 12:28:00 EST

I dreamed last night I was at the 2011 Final Four and Michigan State won the national championship.

Dumb rules

Ben Smith — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 09:19:00 EST

A man apparently vying for the suddenly coveted title of Dumbest Guy In America chose to wear a LeBron James Miami Heat jersey to an Indians game.

And now a word from our sponsor, LeBron James

Ben Smith — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 09:08:00 EST

Remember when ESPN, with its depthless capacity for self-aggrandizement, labeled itself the World Wide Leader.

The T.O. and Ocho Show

Ben Smith — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 19:26:00 EST

... is going to be one of three things.

Roush survives again

Ben Smith — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 19:19:00 EST

Jack Roush is either the luckiest man breathing air or the dumbest. I haven't decided which.

Halfway home

Ben Smith — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 15:01:00 EST

INDIANAPOLIS -- ... and your leader is Greg Biffle, but it's starting to feel like a Juan Pablo Montoya day.

Hey, look! It's Dallas Clark!

Ben Smith — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 12:13:00 EST

INDIANAPOLIS -- The best thing about coming to the Speedway on a race day -- the 500 or the 400 -- is who tends to show up, pretty much out of nowhere.