#DORK 57: O.J.: Made in America

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E60: Behind The Curtain Extras

E:60 Presents WWE: Behind the Curtain

Cinco de Mayo! I'm in.

Rand University

The latest 30 for 30, "Rand University" ran last night, and to no surprise I loved it.

Of course it could have been Moss highlights for an hour, him talking for an hour, or just flashing his stats for an hour and I would have loved it. Now there wasn't a lot of ground breaking stuff (especially if you're a Moss fan) but a lot of great insight and interviews with Moss himself and many people in his life including high school teammates, college coaches, etc.

So we have now seen individual 30 for 30s on:
Randy Moss
Bo Jackson
Len Bias
Allen Iverson
Ricky Williams
Wayne Gretzky
Chris Herren
Todd Marinovich
Ben Wilson
Fernando Valenzuela
Marcus Dupree

I'm sure I'm missing some, I haven't seen the Brian Bosworth one yet.

Who else needs one? My personal picks...
Terrell Owens
Shawn Kemp
Barry Sanders
Deion Sanders
Josh Hamilton
Stephon Marbury
Junior Seau
Sean Taylor
Derrick Thomas
Charlie Ward

Under The Eyes of Chris Berman

Ummm...

Elway To Marino Thoughts

I recently watched the latest ESPN 30 for 30 documentary, Elway to Marino.  It was great.  The film breaks down the 1983 NFL Draft with interviews from a ton of the players that were picked that year, GMs, and the most significant guy was the agent for BOTH John Elway and Dan Marino.  This dude kept notes from all his conversations back then, without him, this doc doesn't happen. 

My biggest takeaways from Elway to Marino?  Easy.

John Elway is a dink. 

For those of you not old enough to remember the '83 draft (me) or did not see the documentary, you will realize that Elway was the original Eli Manning, but worse.  The guy who was going to be the top pick, but did not want to play for that team.  Eli didn't want San Diego and orchestrated a trade to the Giants.  Elway meanwhile was light years ahead of every other prospect in the draft (which was loaded) and he made it clear that he did not want to play for the Baltimore Colts.  This much I knew, but the film shows what an a-hole Elway was back then.  He wanted to play for basically any other team and threatened to just play for the Yankees (he was an outfielder) if the Colts picked him.

The Colts did pick him.  Good for them.  Although they got a crap deal from Denver when they dealt him.  The rumored offers for Elway were insane, just about every team in the league trying to get in. 

6 QBs were taken in the 1st round of the 1983 Draft.  And they were picked in this order...

1. John Elway, Baltimore Colts
7. Todd Blackledge, Kansas City Chiefs
14. Jim Kelly, Buffalo Bills
15. Tony Eason, New England Patriots
24. Ken O'Brien, New York Jets
27. Dan Marino, Miami Dolphins

3 Hall of Famers in there, not awful.  Kelly actually played in the USFL before joining the Bills.  O'Brien was a little better than I originally thought (2-time Pro Bowler). 

But Todd Blackledge?  Jesus.  Chiefs took him ahead of Jim Kelly and Dan Marino.  What a mess.  Also the Patriots might have had a different 80s-90s with Marino over Eason, might have.

The 1st round also featured RB Eric Dickerson, OL Bruce Matthews, and CB Darrell Green.  All Hall of Famers. 

To recap...

John Elway is/was a spoiled turd.  One of my 5 least favorite athletes of all-time.  I mean look at this guy...

Todd Blackledge should be considered MUCH more of a draft bust than he is.  7th overall and 2nd QB?? Yikes.

'83 draft was loaded: Elway, Dickerson, Matthews, Kelly, Marino, Green...

Give this 30 for 30 a watch on demand.

The Sports Brief's Week 12 NFL picks

Sorry these picks didn’t get up until today, but I wanted to make sure we posted them to keep the season going. Besides, Rich is finally over .500 and he needs to be commended for that. I would have posted them Friday as usual, but I actually had to do work. God forbid.

Then I wanted to post them yesterday, but had to work the Northeastern football game against URI. For the record, it was the coldest experience of my life. I now know what hikers/climbers are going through ascending Mount Everest, Kilimanjaro, whatever. It was awful. The only positive that came of the weather was that the two teams rushed a combined 74 times. That clock just kept burning and the game only went 2:50.

After the game I parlayed that by working a CAA women’s volleyball tournament game between Delaware and Towson. It pays bills so relax. Northeastern won the regular season and claimed the rights to host the tournament. I’m going to make a bold prediction right now. You may not care, but four years from now when you catch wind of it, you’ll have this tucked away and you’ll go, “Wow, Besse from The Sports Brief called that.” Here it is:

Delaware may or not win the tournament this year. After watching them yesterday, they’ll pose a tough challenge to the other remaining three teams. But I’m predicting that after this season, they’ll win the CAA title three consecutive years. And here’s why. Two All-CAA rookies Kim Stewart and Elena Delle Donne. For those of you that follow women’s college basketball, Delle Donne is former high school player of the year in basketball out of Ursuline (Del.) Academy that committed to UConn, then abruptly left to play volleyball at Delaware citing she was burned out and no longer wanted to play basketball. She’s 6’5 and an absolute smokeshow.



I also went ahead and pulled a YouTube video that highlights her career at Ursuline. She started as an 8th grader and dropped 2,818 points in her career, a state record. Oh and she missed most of her senior year with mono. Go to the 8:20 mark of this video and watch her drop 51, a career high, in a game her senior year with eight 3-pointers. 6’5 and she’s sniping 3’s like it’s NBA Jam.



Oh and if that wasn’t enough, she was also on ESPN’s “NEXT”.



I guess it goes to show that no matter how good you may be it’s not worth playing if you’re miserable. I applaud Delle Donne for making the decision. You can only hope other young student athletes can use her as a guide in assessing their situations and making a similar decision. Parents and coaches are getting increasingly overbearing on young players in all sports these days, vicariously living through them and pushing for college scholarships and professional contracts; it’s becoming more about their egos than the success of the players, and athletes burning out as Delle Donne did will not be uncommon. Nonetheless, Delle Donne and Stewart are absolutely ridiculous volleyball players, especially as freshmen. If they don’t win three straight after this year something had to have gone horribly wrong.

Onto the picks…

Keefe’s picks:

Last week: 12-4; overall: 81-79

Steelers -10.5 over Bengals
Panthers +1.5 over Falcons
Browns -3.5 over Texans
49ers +10.5 over Cowboys
Lions +8.5 over Buccaneers
Titans -5.5 over Jets
Chiefs +3.5 over Bills
Rams +7.5 over Bears
Patriots +1.5 over Dolphins
Vikings +2.5 over Jaguars
Ravens -1.5 over Eagles
Raiders +9.5 over Broncos
Cardinals +3.5 over Giants
Redskins -3.5 over Seahawks
Chargers -2.5 over Colts
Packers +2.5 over Saints

Besse’s picks:

Last week: 11-5; overall: 85-75

Steelers -10.5 over Bengals
Panthers +1.5 over Falcons
Texans +3.5 over Browns
Cowboys -10.5 over 49ers
Buccaneers -8.5 over Lions
Jets +5.5 over Titans
Bills -3.5 over Chiefs
Rams +7.5 over Bears
Patriots +1.5 over Dolphins
Vikings +2.5 over Jaguars
Eagles +1.5 over Ravens
Broncos -9.5 over Raiders
Cardinals +3.5 over Giants
Seahawks +3.5 over Redskins
Colts +2.5 over Chargers
Saints -2.5 over Packers

Random Rob’s picks:

Last week: 8-8; overall 91-69

Steelers
Panthers
Browns
49ers
Lions
Jets
Chiefs
Rams
Pats
Jags
Ravens
Raiders
Cardinals
Seahawks
Chargers
Packers

-Besse