Hi Folks,
We do a lot of really insightful, thoughtful and serious features here at Footballguys with some very smart people thinking deeply for you. This is not one of those features.
This is Random Shots and it’s a few pages of me downloading my goofy and dysfunctional mental hard drive that gets stuffed with way too many random items from too many hours watching, reading about and listening to football every weekend and throughout the week. It's the only way I keep relatively sane. Here's hoping it has a tiny bit of value for you.
We’ll see how it goes. Let’s get to it.
J
Peek behind the curtain.
If you've ever wondered how I write Random Shots, it's with lots of coffee from my Brownie Money Manziel Mug.
That's Random Shots in one picture.
Random Shots in one video is probably something like Mike Ditka delivering his best "line" of the week...
Yeah, I'm twelve.
Last week, I wrote this:
Baseball note of the week. Mostly because I'm a sucker for anything BigFoot...
As 2,387 of you let me know, that is most definitely NOT Bigfoot. It's TEEN WOLF.
I'd like to say I was testing to see if you guys were paying attention. The truth is I just screwed up. To make up for it, I'm going as Teen Wolf for Halloween in a few weeks. Pictures then. Maybe.
And thank you guys for keeping me on my toes. You rock.
Peter King with a good summary of where we are thus far.
"The Jets are 4-1, all the wins by double digits, and are better than anyone but Todd Bowles’ mother expected. Seattle is 2-4, can’t block anybody and had another of its weekly late-game defensive meltdowns. Pittsburgh’s third-string quarterback, Landry Jones, beat a terrific defense, Arizona’s. The Broncos limped out of Cleveland, bordering on apologizing for an overtime win and being 6-0. In Green Bay, Philip Rivers threw for 503 yards and the Chargers lost; Eddie Lacy ran for three yards and the Packers won."
Touchdown.
Not. A. Touchdown.
I'm still with Ice Cube.
Also, is anyone surprised Golden Tate would be involved in this play?
There weren't a whole lot of nice moments for Chiefs fans Sunday but I loved rookie Marcus Peters intercepting the ball then making a bee line for Andy Reid to hand him the football.
College Football Note.
I'm not a Jim Harbaugh fan. But I love that they love him there. Part of the fun of College Football is cheering for the coaches.
On that thought, this was my favorite sign from Saturday.
Just Jets fans burning a Robert Griffin III III jersey before the game.
Was that the only jersey they could find? Washington fans dressed like Jets fans?
Thanks to Footballguy Keith Overton for that one.
Indianapolis fans are so thougtful they rip Tom Brady...by making cookies.
I'm guessing neither Alex Rodriguez nor Jay Glazer are signing with any football teams soon.
Rodriguez made a guest appearance on FOX's show Sunday.
And it cost a little more than FOX bargained for.
Everyone wants to rag on Rodriguez. But I'm not so sure.
Here's Glazer before the throw.
And after.
Good times.
And every Mom across the country is telling thier kids "That's why we don't throw balls IN THE HOUSE".
More College Football.
Here's SEC vs Big 10 in one picture.
Steelers QB Mike Vick left the game briefly with what the team called "dirt in his eye". Evidently that's how you say "Eyes glazed over after a knee to the helmet" in Pittsburgh.
Seattle's a tough place to play. Especially when they get five downs...
I was watching the Tennessee game and Marcus Mariota threw the ball eight feet over Kendall Wright's head into the back of the endzone. The announcer said, "That's on Mariota.".
In the "Past Performance Is Not An Indication Of Future Success" department, I give you Gary Barnidge.
Trey Wingo and Doug Farrar with "Things Move Pretty Fast" moments Sunday.
The Lion's Game Plan for Sunday.
What's that say about Chicago?
You think Ryan Fitzpatrick was excited to score?
Me too.
Soccer Note of the Week.
God Bless Lions Fans.
I don't know what kind of birds were on the field in Cleveland. But I know that was a duck Manning threw.
If the TV Graphics guys had inserted "5 Game Played" after his 1,234 Yards in this picture, the Matrix might have completely melted down...
Thanks to Footballguy Stephen Parker for that one.
Last one for Manning. You can tell the Cowboys were on a bye and Jerry Jones gave me nothing this week...
I don't even know what to say about that.
I mentioned Cam Heyward in last week's article. He wears the "Iron Head" eyeblack to honor his father who died of cancer in 2006 at the age of 39.
“I love my father," Heyward said after the game. He'd made two tackles and hurried Arizona quaterback Carson Palmer three times in Pittsburgh's 25-13 win. "It’s bigger than just me and my love for my father. The support I’ve gotten from fans (and) teammates who’ve struggled with their family having cancer hit home for me.
"I don’t want to ruffle any feathers, but this is bigger than all we play for. There are people fighting for their lives. My dad did the same thing as well. I just appreciate the fight. Whatever it comes to, I’ll fight against cancer.”
The NFL fined Heyward $5,787 last week for the "violation". It's expected he'll be hit for $11,500 this week as it's his second offense.
It's tough enough facing the Vikings defense. But Charcandrick West had to fight his own players.
Thanks to Footballguy Jeff Haseley for that one.
The search is over. We found Waldo. In Green Bay.
Thanks to Footballguy Steve Fisher for that one.
Death, Taxes and Start The QB Facing Baltimore. Another "Things Move Fast" moment from J.J. Zachariason.
You know it's true...
I told you last week we might have to switch everything over to Tecmo Bowl style gifs. Here's the Colts with their WTFake Punt play.
Patrick Chung with the Mic Drop tweet of the week.
Thanks to Brian Sumner for that one.
The Patriots show why it's nice to have athletes like Jamie Collins on the Field Goal Block Team. Click here to see the Vine video.
Football and Star Wars Worlds overlapped Monday night as ESPN ran the new movie trailer at halftime.
Judging from the buzz, I think the league might skip the halftime music act for the Super Bowl and play a twenty minute clip from the new movie.
Here's more mashing up as NFL Helmets get the Star Wars treatment.
In case you weren't aware. this Star Wars stuff is Serious Business. I was scolded for asking if Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were now part of the story.
Tell me that dude does not look like a Ninja Turtle...
Fun picture from a Footballguys Reader today.
Team name is Cagney and Lacy.
You Old Timers will get that one.
Thanks to Footballguy John Di Filippo for that one.
The Spanish radio call for Greg Olsen's touchdown is the best thing you'll hear today.
Levi's Stadium bills itself as the "most connected stadium in the world."
"The 49ers said what they're really competing against to sell the stadium is the at-home experience. They believe to sell the stadium they need more than putting a great football team on the field. They need to provide Wi-Fi with instant replays with different camera angles, the ability to order food and access other applications that are in the stadium," said Mike Tighe, executive director of data services at Comcast, which signed a 10-year agreement with the San Francisco 49ers to deliver a variety of Ethernet, cloud-based voice, Wi-Fi and broadcast services at Levi's Stadium.
Call me old fashioned, but I'd trade wi-fi for a field that didn't swallow kickers. Click the picture to see Justin Tucker's adventure Sunday. Super Bowl, here we come.
This is how news works in 2015. Here's the Tuesday night timeline.
8:51 PM Fred Jackson Crashes Car While Drag Racing Marshawn Lynch
8:59 PM Fred Jackson “Fine” After Drag Racing Accident
9:30 PM Fred Jackson and Marshawn Lynch Were Not Drag Racing
In the span of 39 minutes, Jackson went from:
to
Thanks TMZ.
Thanks to Footballguy Frank Nolte for the help on that one.
Advertising and Ethics question rolled together.
KFC created an advertisement airing in South Africa involving surfer Mick Fanning.
The question asked is if it's offensive to people who've been affected by real shark attacks. Fanning's mother thought it was disrespectful.
"They've put a lookalike in the video. It really brings back a lot of trauma for everybody who has been attacked by a shark," she told Fairfax Media.
Hmmm.
Here's another question. Albert Breer can't really be expected to see it I guess as he's looking at Adam Jones. But at what point does the camera guy raise his hand and say, "Umm Albert, there's a whole lot of butts in the video here..."?
The best part may have been the guys back at the desk when the video finished. The joys of live television.
Katherine McCarron, wife of backup QB A.J. McCarron was not amused.
Proving once again the Internet almost always wins, someone quickly replied with the comment "lies" and this picture Katherine had posted previously of her husband.
The baby picture had been part of Mrs. McCarron wishing her husband a happy birthday earlier this year. I'm not sure how one measures such things, but apparently the McCarrons have "one of the cutest relationships in all of sports."
Awww.
Here's the question I have. Why does A.J. McCarron need to shower after a game? Does carrying the clipboard really work up that much of a sweat?
Peyton Manning making a John Elway face. Because I know you guys care about stuff like this.
Closing with this one.
You may have seen the pictures a few weeks ago of the sorority girls at the Arizona Diamondbacks game all taking pictures of themselves instead of watching the game. This drew a lot of criticism and mocking both from the television announcers and the internet at large.
I hate that old people like me want to bemoan the downfall of society with "kids these days" focused on texting and selfies instead of being able to hold a face to face conversation. I get it. I have kids and I spend a lot of time around young people. There's some truth to the social media obsession for some but I think it's also way overblown.
In the big picture, I'm stoked and encouraged about Young People today.
The point though is that lots of people jumped on the bandwagon to criticize these young women.
But as is VERY often the case, there's more to the story.
Looking a little deeper, the fans at the game were reportedly asked by the stadium announcer to tweet selfies as part of a contest and the girls were just participating. FoxSports and the Diamondbacks apologized and they've now turned the attention into being able to raise some $13,000 for the "A New Leaf" organization that supports victims of domestic violence.
So Youth of America, rock on. And for you not so Youthful, cut them a little slack. Our parents were probably just as worried about us.
But the real note from this is don't be so quick to jump to the conclusions. This isn't a unique case. I see this happen over and over where people jump to conclusions. Myself included. And usually, we jump (myself included) to the conclusion that most fits our preconceived notion of what we already believe.
This story is a good reminder to hit "pause" sometimes. Things (very) often are not what they seem.
Thanks to Footballguy Andrew Garda for the help on that one.
That'll do it for this week, Folks. Thanks to Footballguys Doug Drinen, Clayton Gray, Keith Overton, Stephen Parker, Jeff Haseley, John Di Filippo, Steve Fisher, Brian Sumner, Andrew Garda and Frank Nolte for the help on this one. If you've got a Random Shot of your own, shoot me an e-mail at bryant@footballguys.com.
Thanks for playing along. I hope you make the most of whatever you're doing in your life. Love your neighbor and stick together.
Peace and Grace to you.
J
