'Tis the season to spend time with friends and family and this is exactly what we at GET REAL will be doing this holiday season. Our team will spend their holiday resting up and preparing themselves for a hot new year in 2011!
We will be back with more of the GET REAL attitude- along with our opinionated sports articles on GetRealHammered.com - we will be bringing along some new friends like GetRealTickets, GetRealNutrition, GetRealTraining , GetRealSmashed and GetRealHotties
The Ray Lewis "sleeved blanket" looks awfully like a Snuggie, and Ray Lewis looks about how you would imagine him in one: much less intimidating than he is on the field.
In any case, the Baltimore Ravens linebacker's new fashion line, RL52, is here, and Lewis is so excited about it that he apparently was willing to put himself through the ridicule of not even just trying on one of these gems, but modelling it for the website, as if to say: "don't knock it until you've tried it." Unfortunately, the look on his face all the while says: "Photoshop", because there's no way anyone, even anyone financially tied to the garment's success, is that happy to wear one unless they're on some kind of extra-strength pain medication or have just drunk the Kool-Aid served at their cloak-wearing cult meeting.
That isn't to say "sleeved blankets" are worn in poor taste. They actually serve a very practical purpose of allowing people in the world's sweaterless nations the ability to keep warm while reading a book, for example. It's just that people are likely to beat you up if you're caught wearing one at an actual football game instead of more conventional clothing. The worst part? You can't really run away, because the leg sleeve will trip you up as you do.
Of note, the sleeved blanket costs $45, and, as is the case with all items sold (there are other items available, but none quite as inspiring as this), a portion of the proceeds will be given to the Ray Lewis Foundation, which is a not-for-profit organization that strives to lend a helping hand to disadvantaged youths, a noble cause to be sure. This of course leads to the burning question: can you donate to the foundation without actually buying something? Because even though you may want to look like Ray Lewis in a "sleeved blanket", you'll still just end up looking like Ray Lewis does in one of his "sleeved blankets".
New York Jets strength-and-conditioning-coach Sal Alosi spoke to the media on Monday, and apologized for tripping Miami Dolphins cornerback Nolan Carroll on Sunday, but, while he did apologize for an act that never should have been committed, it’s clear the whole incident has been blown way out of proportion.
Alosi was suspended for the remainder of the season and fined $25,000 by the Jets in what clearly amounts to an attempt on the part of the team to make this disappear as fast as possible. No additional discipline was handed down by the NFL, meaning Alosi will serve his team suspension and this should likely dissipate nearly as fast as people around the league and watching on television, without any access to the inner workings of Alosi’s brain I might add, decided that Alosi had tripped Carroll on purpose.
During his press conference on Monday, Alosi took responsibility for his brain cramp, but never once admitted to tripping Carroll on purpose. Of course, it probably wouldn’t have been the smartest thing for him to do, but, all the same, he could just have easily have played the “total accident” card, but he didn’t do that either. All he said was: “It was just a situation where I wasn’t thinking... Had I been thinking I would have taken a step back instead of leaning forward.”
If you replay the video of the trip, Alosi was standing on the sidelines alongside five other people as Carroll was struggling to remain in-bounds. Carroll could just as easily have tripped on any one of those people’s feet, but because Alosi “stuck” out his knee, he’s become the personification of anything from dumbassery to evil, depending on who you ask, these past few days.
If he really had malicious intentions in his mind, it is likely that he would have stuck out his leg instead of his knee. It isn’t as if it would have been any less obvious when caught on camera, as this media storm has proven, but it would have arguably been much more effective as an attempt to injure.
Think about it: Did the tape show Alosi spitting on Carroll after the fact or kicking him in the ribs when he was down? Did he have it out for him? Did he have any reason to? Does he have a history of making impulsive decisions? The answers to all questions are either “no” or “probably not”. In fact, Alosi earned an award for sportsmanship as a football player during college. That isn’t to say it isn’t possible he tripped Carroll on purpose, just puts the action in the proper perspective. But because everyone from the television colour commentators to the Dolphins’ water boy were left hungry for blood, the Jets had to move swiftly and make Alosi a true villain in all this so as to prevent it all from truly escalating into some uncontrollable blob that would serve as only a distraction in the team’s bid to make the playoffs.
So, yes, he’s admitted to the incident, and people who initially vilified him have given him props for so doing, which constitutes just the latest head-scratcher to arise from all of this. These same people who laud him for telling him the truth, saying that yes, he did trip Carroll, seem to conveniently forget that he can’t deny it because the whole goddamned thing is on tape and that they themselves saw it firsthand. If he were to deny it, it would be like saying the sky isn’t blue, grass isn’t green, and the Jets didn’t just get embarrassed 10-6 at home by the Dolphins. What people should really be asking themselves is if he meant to trip him or not.
But, yes, Alosi does deserve props, not for telling the truth, but for being a good soldier, and doing what’s best for the team under these unfortunate circumstances. No one can go so far as to call him a scapegoat, because he did trip Carroll and he did create said unfortunate circumstances, but no one except Alosi can know for sure whether or not he deserves his punishment. With Carroll thankfully uninjured, Alosi may very be the sole victim in all of this.
Houston Texans wide-receiver Andre Johnson is a beast. There's no two ways about it. At 6'3", 225 pounds, he's got the physical make-up of the team's bull mascot, Toro, minus the cartoonish creative liberties taken in its creation. Add in the agility of a Jaguar, and, as Cortland Finnegan will attest to, the fury of a Titan, and it's no wonder that he's a four-time Pro Bowler.
His clutch play last night is further proof of his greatness, with Johnson not only scoring the game-tying touchdown (minus the two-point conversion that actually tied the game), but making several huge plays on that final Texans drive in regulation. At one point, he made a one-handed grab look as routine as you or I would buying a hot dog off the street to feed our relatively out-of-shape selves. It's enough to make one fall into a deep depression and want to eat more processed beef as a comfort food.
However, as great as he was last night against the Baltimore Ravens, it wasn't enough to get his team the win as the Texans fell 34-28 in overtime, following an interception out of the hands of quarterback Matt Schaub and into those of cornerback Josh Wilson. It was an especially heartbreaking loss for Houston, not only because it all but mathematically eliminated them from playoff contention, but because they came oh, so close to winning after being down 28-7 in the second half.
The loss marked the record fourth time a team has come back from 14 or more points to tie or lead in a game and then lose. The stat proves the heart of this Texans team as well as a lack of maturity that will certainly come with time. Right now, though, fans can only lament what could have been as well as the fact that the franchise has yet to make the playoffs in now-nine seasons in the NFL.
It isn't right to blame Schaub for the loss, as it was his genius (and Johnson's talent) in the late stages of the game that even made it possible for the Texans to reach overtime. Really, it's a matter of the team as a whole clicking at the same time that will make this team consistently great, because, as they proved yesterday, they already are in spurts. Granted, most of that greatness came when Johnson was on the field, but, still, getting to overtime was a total team effort. Unfortunately, so was losing the way they did.
The joke going around the NFL is that the weather gods are smiling on Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre to the point of helping him to preserve his consecutive-games-started streak. On Sunday, a snow storm so vicious that it was able to collapse in an inflatable roof (think a large balloon, but slightly bigger; presumably slughtly tougher as well), forced the Vikings game against the New York Giants to be postponed one day. We prefer to take the more direct point of view out there and say that, if there are indeed weather gods, they were just doing their best at preventing the world from bearing witness to Minnesota shamelessly trying to put together a half-decent game of football. Considering the game will be played in Detroit, with the Vikings assuming the role of the home team, it could also be their subtle way of pointing out who the league's next Lions are.
Favre's streak is at 297 games currently. The Vikings' streak of suckiness meanwhile ran out two games ago, but their current run of mediocrity is at least 12 games old.
Dallas Cowboys cornerback Orlando Scandrick nearly closed the gap successfully between Philadelphia Eagles wide-receiver DeSean Jackson and the rest of the Cowboys’ defense before Jackson scored a 91-yard touchdown on Sunday in the Eagles’ 30-27 victory. When it’s all said and done, Jackson may wish Scandrick had caught him before he made a fool of the Cowboys and himself in the process.
On the play, Jackson stopped short of the end zone, turned around and then dropped inside, resulting in an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. The issue here isn’t the celebration, but the fact that it was a pre-celebration. Scoring is fun and dancing around like it’s 1999 and the Denver Broncos are still a good team is all fine and dandy, but only once you get into the end zone. Up until that point you should act like a professional or risk the unthinkable happening, like being stripped of the ball at the last second by a never-say-die opponent. Scandrick was nearly that opponent and now “die” is among the nicest things Cowboys fans are likely to utter to Jackson the next time he’s in Dallas.
Jackson’s skills are undeniable. But he still lacks a great deal of intelligence the same way a musician would a sheet of inspiring music or Bob Vila a broken-down house. Jackson has all the tools to be great, but not the wherewithal with which to showcase them properly. Instead, fans are treated to his countless displays of idiocy, which are entertaining to watch, but more for their shock value, making him quite the sideshow attraction. What’s saddest is that these incidents date back to his rookie season in the league in a game against who else but the Cowboys.
On September 15, 2008, Jackson caught a long pass and easily made his way into the end zone. The only problem was that he unwittingly dropped the ball at the one-yard line, making the score null and void. The Eagles ended up scoring on the same series, meaning Jackson never likely got all that much flak from the coaching staff for his gaffe. No harm no foul, right?
Considering this time around, Jackson took the time to make sure the ball was firmly in his grasp before gracefully falling back into the end zone, maybe he did take something away from the first mistake, but, if that’s all, clearly that helmet-on-helmet hit that concussed him last season killed a few too many brain cells... or didn’t do the trick well enough.
And that’s what Jackson should fear, some opposing NFLer taking too much exception to his antics sometime down the line and then taking a few too many liberties on him the next time he’s left in a vulnerable position. As such, maybe the Eagles should have hoped that Scandrick caught up to him as well, even if it meant the game, considering how valuable Jackson is to the team in the long run... minus his showboating.
