texasPHINSfan

"Larry Little wrote:

We're going to fire a coach and suspend three players because a person with a long history of emotional and mental problems couldn't deal with jokes from his friends? Jokes that he participated in?

This whole thing is ridiculous.

This comment is ridiculous. The "history of mental problems" stems from being bullied his entire life. Putting the onus on Martin to "deal with it" because it's common in lockerrooms is the lamest excuse for the poor behavior exhibited by teammates I've ever heard. In what world is it ok to make references of doing lewd things to a sister? I don't care if you pretend to play ball, that's not ok in any environment.

Anyone who asks for context from the report is missing the point - this stuff is unacceptable on any level, anywhere. It doesn't matter if another lockerroom does it too. The worst part about this is Incognito doesn't realize what he's done is wrong. That's the disconnect and it speaks to the rotten culture of locker rooms.

I'm less concerned with the punishments than the possible changes. If we're lucky this effects positive change across NFL culture and not just in Miami's lockerroom. I'm not that naive, but it would be nice.

"slickj101 wrote:

lol a 3rd string CB gets traded for a 2nd round pick and people are mad :lol:

Why? And by why I mean a logical reason.

Because we paid a first for him, don't have particularly great DB depth, his contract is dirt cheap, and he's only 24.

This seems to be a glass half-full versus glass half-empty thread.

The funny thing is both sides are correct. You can disagree with the manner in which the OP is making his claims, but the facts are our WR corps and our O-line are still collective messes. The proof is in the pudding - watch them play. Can't make a final judgement until the season is over, sure, but we as fans can make judgements as the season progresses based on games played. To ignore that the preseason happened, or to discount it completely because "it's the preseason" would be naive - and I'd say it was rather dour.

You can say the preseason isn't the most definitive indicator of how a team will play in the regular season, but unless you think we'll suddenly start making our blocks at the line and the WRs will suddenly start getting open, there are valid concerns here. How many teams have played poor football all preseason then stormed through the regular season? Probably a much smaller sample size than teams that sucked during the preseason that also struggled during the regular season.

I don't get the Dempsey situation. Same age as Van Persie, both were in the same boat (1 year left on contract, want to go to winning team). Is this the American player discrimination we've heard so much about? Fulham can sell Dempsey now, or lose him for nothing next year. Arsenal read the tea leaves with Van Persie, why can't Fulham?

Probably mildly ironic that Arsenal could really use Dempsey, too.

"CANEPHINS wrote:

Percy Harvin is one more migraine from being done for his career.

Yeah, those career-ending migraines are the worst. :D

I don't see anything to this trade unless we have QB depth issues that none of us know about.

"texasPHINSfan wrote:

Tuesday night on FSC, 10 p.m. EST, 7 PST is the Open Cup match between Sounders FC (1st division) and Cal FC (5th division). Watch the cinderalla story of Cal FC come to an end! Haha

So Goliath absolutely destroyed David, 5-0. Cinderella story came to an abrupt end.

Still, Cal FC fought hard and given their circumstances, should hold their heads high. For those that didn't know, Cal FC is coached by Eric Wynalda and was put together about two months ago specifically for the Open Cup. They definitely punched above their weight.

Tomorrow: USMNT qualifier against Antigua, a minnow. Still, the fact we couldn't really hang a goal on Canada makes me a bit nervous going into this qualifying round...

U.S. had a poor showing versus Canada, finishing 0-0. I'd call that a loss. The only thing worse than the final score was watching the match. Ugh, boring. How big is that talent dropoff from Fabian Johnson to Edgar Castillo at LB? Ouch.

Tuesday night on FSC, 10 p.m. EST, 7 PST is the Open Cup match between Sounders FC (1st division) and Cal FC (5th division). Watch the cinderalla story of Cal FC come to an end! Haha

"BigDogsHunt wrote:

I admit, I didnt know this tourney existed, and never new about the lower divisions existed either, as part of this....quite interesting!

It's good stuff. The tournament has been around since 1914, one of the oldest in the world.

I just love David & Goliath stories :)

Anyone watching the US Open Cup matches, or following them at all? For those that don't know what it is, it's the equivalent of the FA Cup, but over here in the states.

9 of 16 MLS teams were knocked out by lower level competition in the 3rd play-in round. Wow. The best was last night - a USASA league team, Cal FC (I think it's like 4th or 5th division) beat the Portland Timbers (MLS side, first division) by a score of 1-0. I think I read it was the first time a USASA team scored a goal against a MLS team in the competition, and the first time an adult-league team beat a MLS side.

In another game, the New England Revolution played Harrisburg (a NASL team IIRC, 2nd division) to a 0-0 tie. In overtime, New England scored three goals. You think that would wrap up the game against a lower-division side, no? Harrisburg came back to score 3 goals in the second period of overtime, scoring the last in extra time of the second overtime period. The game went to PKs and Harrisburg advanced. Unbelievable.

The really tragic part of all this is most of these games were pretty amazing to watch, but none were on regular TV. I was watching internet feeds where I could find them and saw most of the matches. I don't care if you don't like MLS, the games were quality and fun to watch. (Hell, I'll watch Qatari soccer if it's interesting).

What a round, though. Columbus, Chicago, Portland, Dallas, Houston, the LA Galaxy, New England, and RSL are all out. Really amazing stuff. That's why I love this sport! Of course the Sounders won last night, 5-1 against the Atlanta Silverbacks. I was at the game..... fun!

The bracket:
http://thecup.us/2012-us-open-cup-bracket/

Outclassed by Brazil. No surprise there either, but..... ouch. 4-1. Scoreline didn't really reflect how the game went though; I thought the US created plenty of chances and (for the most part) played toe-to-toe with Brazil.

Credit to the 5-time world champs though, they are a great team. Neymar is fun to watch.

"BigDogsHunt wrote:

For Juan Agudelo, Alfredo Morales, Danny Williams and Graham Zusi, the summer of U.S. national team involvement is over, barring an injury or something else unforseen. U.S. national team manager Jurgen Klinsmann has trimmed the roster from 27 to 23 for three upcoming friendlies and the first two qualifiers for World Cup 2014.

No real surprises there.

Anyone watch the USA/Scotland game?
What. a. game. (If you're a USA fan)

"texasPHINSfan wrote:

So I guess Drogba probably won't be leaving Chelsea now, eh? Unless they sell him when his price would be at its highest.

aaaaand the day after I say that, Drogba announces he's leaving Chelsea. :lol:

Guessing he joins Anelka in China, or plays for $$ in Qatar.

"BigDogsHunt wrote:

WestHamU and big Sam Allardyce back in the PL.....salt in the wounds to Blackburn fans and those crafty Venky's!....

:headwall:

I watched the championship playoff game, did you? It was a good match, actually. Didn't see West Ham going through halfway through the second half; Blackpool came out swinging. What an ending though!

Has anyone seen Bayern's finishing? Put it on a milk carton! McFly had a howler.

So I guess Drogba probably won't be leaving Chelsea now, eh? Unless they sell him when his price would be at its highest.

Tomorrow is the UEFA final! Who is everyone rooting for in this one?

Chelsea or Bayern?

I don't understand the hostility some people feel toward Timmy Chandler for declining the U.S. callup. The dude was born in Germany, has lived there all his life, and doesn't feel a connection to the USA. That's ok, and his prerogative. Sucks for us, but we'll be ok.

The Rossi case was entirely different.

In other news, Kenny Dalglish was sacked. Not surprised at all by that one. Who's up next?

Yeah when they went to a "straight bunker with 10 men" strategy, they did seem to play a bit better. Go figure.

Damn that Man City. I'm no QPR fan but that was an exciting match! Stupid Joey Barton...

"Tone_E wrote:

Nope. Don't even watch here in Toronto, and we the TFC. :)

I guess it's hard to blame you when TFC is 0-8 :sad:

Hey, you know you guys are in the semis for the Canadian Nutralife championship? TFC just beat Montreal last night. Winner gets a champions league spot. That's kind of a big deal :up:

"BigDogsHunt wrote:

Yeah, I have DC united and while I sneak a peek once in a while, it still doesnt capture my interest the way following Blackburn does.....maybe that changes with relegation...but will see.

DCU has a great group of young players. Fun to watch. I know RFK is a pit, but the quality of play between Blackburn and DCU isn't that far apart (I think MLS is better than people give it credit for.) DCU has the rookie of the year in Nick DeLeon and last year's MVP in Dwayne DeRosario. Of course DeRosario isn't as fun to watch as his compatriot Hoilett, but he's very effective.

In other MLS news, Philly just beat Schalke 04 last night. And New York Red Bulls won the Emirates cup last year, beating Arsenal and a host of other Euro teams. I'm not saying MLS is better - just that it's better than most give it credit for (Obviously NYRB isn't better than Arsenal). Sad that many fans of euro-based teams stateside don't know what they're missin! Nothing says you can't be a fan of both.

Whispers of Nesta going to NYRB too. Also Adebayor to NYRB is a possibility. Both can't happen but I wouldn't be surprised if one of the two happens.

Ok, I'll get off the soapbox now! :lol:

"Muck wrote:

And everything has ****ing autotune on it. Why does Usher need anything on his voice? Why does everybody have to sound robotic? What is that? Where's the individuality? Differentiality? Another reason why I respect Adele. She won't add anything to her voice and, win or lose, wants it to stand on its own.

Though not exactly the same, I see it similarly to how popular hip hop artists can't make albums on their own. There has to be a dozen other popular rappers on the album. I suppose that's just personal preference, but I feel it's something unique and virtually non-extinct.

Too bad I can't fist pump this more than once. Hear hear!