One of the lead stories of today is that Rex Ryan turned himself into the authorities in Nashville and was charged with:
- Leaving the scene of an accident – – two charges
- Failure to give info or render aid – – two charges
- Failure to obey a traffic control device – – two charges.
What apparently happened is that Ryan was driving his truck in Nashville and made a turn that had him run over the feet of two pedestrians and he did not stop after that. Good news is no fatalities or critical injuries. Bad news is he was booked and released on bail. There is an ironic side to this incident …
Recall when Ryan was the head coach of the Jets there was a video that went viral involving Ryan admiring his wife’s feet. Foot fetish then; traffic charges now for running over feet. The wheels go round and round …
Moving on … Now that the NFL Trading Deadline has passed, I want to ask a question that has nothing to do with who was traded or which team improved the most or anything like that. Back in the day – – after the dinosaurs and just before the dominance of hominids – – there were usually no trades at all during an NFL season. The Trade Deadline was a ho-hum event if it was any sort of event at all.
- So, when did that non-event become a month-long staple of the sports media?
Switching gears … The return of Kirk Cousins to Minnesota is intended to provide competence and stability to the Vikes’ QB position. But before all that euphoria takes hold consider this:
- Cousins was with the Vikes from 2018 to 2023. His contract was up and he was injured so the Vikes wished him well in future endeavors and then proceeded to start the following motley crew at QB from 2023 until now – – in alphabetical order:
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- Max Brosmer
- Sam Darnold
- Josh Dobbs
- Jaren Hall
- JJ McCarthy
- Nick Mullins
- Kyler Murray
- Carson Wentz
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Maybe – – just maybe – – Kevin O’Connell’s reputation as a mystical quarterback whisperer is a bit overblown? Sam Darnold blossomed in Minnesota; the others on that list were less than satisfactory.
Last but not least … My extended absence caused me to lose track of the CFL season. Well, the league is in the midst of its playoffs and here are the results:
- In the semi-finals, Winnipeg beat Toronto and BC defeated Saskatchewan.
- In the division finals, Montreal beat Winnipeg and Edmonton beat BC.
So, the Gray Cup game will be this weekend on November 15th and will feature the Montreal Alouettes (regular season record = 14-4) against the Edmonton Elks (regular season record = 13-5). The game will be played in Calgary this year and the Alouettes are currently 3.5-point favorites in the game.
The two teams met twice in the regular season and split those two games – – each team winning on its home field; the Gray Cup will be on a neutral field.
Finally, a eureka moment from Sam Kinison:
“You want to help world hunger? Stop sending them food. Don’t send them another bite, send them U-Hauls. Send them a guy that says, ‘You know, we’ve been coming here giving you food for about 35 years now and we were driving through the desert, and we realized there wouldn’t BE world hunger if you people would live where the FOOD IS!.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports ………