Greg Roman, who is up to his eyelids in fan love as the 49ers’ offensive coordinator, helped explain Colin Kaepernick’s mood.
“He’s a very competitive guy. He wants to win and that’s his ultimate goal as a football player is to win. And when we fall short of that he takes that tough. He’s a competitive guy. He’s out there laying it on the line.”
Credit where it belongs, though. At least he’s not interviewing himself. That’s the sign of someone who can learn not to perform fruitless tasks.
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Edmonton Oilers goalie Ben Scrivens has enough on his plate being the goaltender of the Edmonton Oilers, but here is why you must love him:
And even if links give you shingles, scabies and the heebie jeebies, you are ordered to love him anyway because he answered one of those idiotic “Talk about” questions like this:
“Ask me a specific question. Don’t say ‘talk about.’ I’m sorry. I’m in a bad mood, but be specific please.”
Yes. Totally and comprehensively yes.
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Tiger Woods shot 77 in his first competitive round of golf in like forever, which is not a compelling item in and of itself, except that it seems clear now that Golf Digest’s Dan Jenkins probably should have aimed higher.
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When life is crummy: Former Shark Ryane Clowe, currently a New Jersey Devil sidelined with concussion issues, just found out his father Anthony has been arrested by Royal Canadian Mounted Police and charged with “money laundering and possession property obtained by crime” as part of a cocaine smuggling ring in Newfoundland.
The younger Clowe is not part of the investigation, but . . . well, eccch.
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Apparently the glut of bowl eligible teams means we don’t have enough bowl games (and yes, I’m going to hell for just thinking it), because Alabama-Birmingham, which just disbanded its program this week, will be passed over for one of the spots, and one of the fringe Big 10 teams (Illinois, Rutgers, Maryland or Penn State).
Sounds like the perfect time to make a new game between UAB, which is dead, and Penn State, which damned near died. The location? Tombstone, Arizona, which doesn’t have a stadium, but let’s be honest -– all you need is a stretch of grass for most bowl games because nobody goes.
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On the same day that ESPN’s Buster Olney protested the new more restrictive rules for the Baseball Hall of Fame by declaring that he would not vote at all, the Hall announced that it would select one name Monday from its list of 10 finalists for what they call “The Golden Era” of baseball –- 1947 to 1972. The finalists, since we know you’re going to ask, are Dick Allen, Ken Boyer, Gil Hodges, Bob Howsam, Jim Kaat, Minnie Minoso, Tony Oliva, Billy Pierce, Luis Tiant and Maury Wills.
That said, if the Hall of Fame doesn’t fix its increasingly silly rules, the Golden Age will be the time in which they had voters.
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And finally, to Bryan Burwell, the longtime sportswriter and television personality of considerable and merited renown, most recently in St. Louis, who passed today: 59? You go at 59? Sorry, guess again, pal. You owe us another 15 years of your generosity and wisdom, minimum, and we demand immediate resumption of payment.
(Author’s note of transparency: He and I used to play a game when we saw each other where the first person to flip off the other won the day. Kind of a quick draw competition between naughty nine-year-olds. I now have to find a new foil; any owners, league commissioners, imperious athlete/snots or other miscellaneous cloth-eared berks will be grandfathered right in).
