From ESPN’s sports biz columnist, Darren Rovell.
(3 Sanders jpg’s on CSTB in one day. Someone call the Elias Sports Bureau!)
So I missed Barry Sanders’ appearance on Cold Pizza Tuesday, but I got enough e-mails about it. Apparently Mr. Sanders was paid by MasterCard to promote its PayPass, but unfortunately Sanders didn’t come through for the company. Did he forget to mention MasterCard? No. He mentioned that the program was actually the product of competitor Visa over and over again.
Working Jeff Garlin’s Chorus Line can really fuck with a guy’s concentration.
This is the kind of stuff that passes for football news during Super Bowl Week. Well, that and every fired heach coach named Mike finding new work as an assistant (ie. Mike Sherman, Mike Tice, and Mike Martz).
That said, I was very impressed with Chad Johnson’s choice of a silver and black Albuquerque Isotopes cap on last night’s “NFL Live”.
Following last weekend’s tribute to John Madden by Ira Miller in the SF Chronicle, here’s an opposing viewpoint from Tim Brown, as quoted in today’s LA Times :
A lot of people will have glowing things to say about Madden, but Tim Brown isn’t one of them. Brown, who began playing for the Raiders in 1988, long after Madden became a broadcaster, took a pretty good shot at Madden on FSN’s “Pro Football Preview Show.”
“I spent a long time in Raiderland,” Brown said, “and when you talk to the old guys who played under Madden, they say, ‘Look, if not for this guy, maybe we win three or four Super Bowls.’ They actually think that he may have hindered them.”
Tim Brown has always seemed like a thoughtful guy, so I’m not going to dismiss those comments out of hand. But I wonder just what magic tricks those old-timers he’s been talking to wanted Madden to bust out.
In Madden’s 10 years as head coach the Raiders made the playoffs 8 times and won at least one playoff game 7 times. Only once–in ’72–did they go one-and-out in the playoffs. So it’s not as if Madden’s failings kept the team from having the opportunity to win it all. He got them to the dance.
But they made it all the way only once, falling short 7 times. Let’s see who the Raiders lost to in the playoffs under Madden: ’69 Chiefs, ’70 Colts, ’72 Steelers, ’73 Dolphins, ’74 Steelers, ’75 Steelers, and ’77 Broncos. Five of those seven teams went on to win the Super Bowl that season. The ’72 Steelers lost to the undefeated Dolphins in the AFC Championship, and the ’77 Broncos lost to the Cowboys in the Super Bowl.
So it’s not as if Madden was choking in the playoffs, losing to stiffs and underdogs who had no business beating the Raiders. They were typically losing to the World Champs! Had the Raiders beaten the ’72 Steelers, it seems likely that the Dolphins would have kept their streak intact no matter what. The only loss that really stands out here is the last one, to the ’77 Broncos, who got waxed by the ‘Boys that year, 27-10.
I’m not a stats geek, so I can’t say whether the Raiders under Madden were tripped up by their coach’s ineptitude. But a cursory look at the record suggests that’s not the case.
Tim Brown can bite me.
It’s kind of a ridiculous comment. Burying a coach he never played for….with quotes he won’t attribute to anyone.