Old and Busted: Greg Schiano, October 16, 2012, after cornerback Aqib Talib was suspended for four games by the NFL: ”He’s going to be back with us. You’ve got to just trust us on this one.”

New Hotness: Yeah, he’s not going to be back with us.

The first thing I thought when I read that the Steelers had been awarded a phantom first down in their game against the Jets Sunday was, “Wow. Two weeks in a row.”

Then I read the story and saw it was Pete Morelli’s crew that made the mistake. The same crew that gave the Redskins a first down they didn’t earn the week prior against Tampa Bay.

This latest SNAFU happened early in the second quarter on a 1st-and-10 play from the Jets’ 35, so it’s not quite the same as scoring on fifth down to nearly tie a game with just seconds to play. But this has to be addressed. Where is Mike Pereira on this?

It turned out not to matter, and not a lot of you saw it happen (few who did are likely to care), but the Washington Redskins apparently did get an extra down and used it to score their nearly-game-tying touchdown against Tampa Bay yesterday. Only one of the stranger endings to an NFL game that I can remember kept the mixup from mattering.
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Swamped today, but I wanted to get these things out there:

• Yes, the USA got hosed on hosting the 2022 World Cup. It happens. Jeff Bradley nails it in that this wasn’t going to be The Thing That’s Going To Make Us (no one thing is). This is how the game works now, boys and girls. Sepp Blatter wanted to remain in power, someone who was going to run against him next election was Qatari, you head off that potential threat by giving his country a World Cup. Along with all the other political backscratching and graft that goes on whenever there’s huge money to be won or lost. I do know this, and you can file this away for when the 2026 World Cup is up for bid: your actual bid doesn’t matter, your actual presentation doesn’t matter, the visit by the FIFA people to see your country and your plans doesn’t matter, how well you could potentially host a Cup doesn’t matter. None of that matters. And you never have to listen to US Soccer again when they tell you that signing petitions or texting your vote matters, either (not that it ever did). The worst part? I had the best headline for a post all ready if the US had been selected.
• Nothing like finding out at the last minute, but I’m calling a high school football playoff game tonight on AIA365.com at 7pm MT (9pm ET). It’s the Class 5A Division I semifinal between Hamilton (who’s 13-0 and looking for their third straight state title) and Mountain Pointe (who’s 10-2). It should be fun. Tune in.
• Here’s why we can’t send people to Mars: Our best and brightest are coming up with stuff like this. (It might be mildly NSFW, depending on where you work, so beware.)
• News anchors are so much fun.
• This woman lives in Phoenix. Of course she does.
• The first half of the ASU/U of A game last night was crap, but it had a thrilling ending. If you’re a special teams coach, send your resume to Mike Stoops, c/o the University of Arizona. Do it today.
• Finally, the Bucs will wear the creamsicles Sunday against the Falcons. Good times.

Yesterday, just over three minutes to play, Tampa Bay leads San Francisco 21-0.

Myers: “So on fourth down, they’re going to punt it back to the 49ers, who will try and at least get on the scoreboard to avoid that home shutout.”

36 seconds later, after the punt, he turns to his partner, Kurt Warner and says…

“Now, if you’re on the 49er offense here, at this stage of the game, are you thinking ‘Let’s just try to get on the scoreboard?’“

Oy, vey.

I think today may have been the first NFL game I have attended as a fan since about 1996…no, wait, 2000 (thanks to my awesome girlfriend, Brenda). Anyway, I’m thrilled the Bucs beat the Cardinals in a wild game that maybe wouldn’t have been that wild if Raheem Morris weren’t the dumbest man in America. But I can tell you this about going to NFL games:

Staying home is better.

With a big TV, NFL Sunday Ticket and/or NFL Red Zone, your own food and facilities and no obnoxious fans of the other team, home is definitely the way to experience the NFL these days. Replay challenges – which seem to take forever on TV – take forever and a day when you’re in the stadium waiting for them live. Commercial breaks are death. They can try showing Red Zone highlights on the big screen, but it’s not the same. I can’t change the channel myself.

As pro sporting event experiences go, University of Phoenix Stadium was actually quite good (my expectations have been beaten into the ground, truth be told). The gameday staff at the stadium couldn’t have been nicer (genuinely nice, it felt like). Concessionaires were also very friendly and efficient (it’s a different company than works Diamondbacks games at Chase Field, which are the polar opposite) and the prices were actually reasonable. It wasn’t hard to get in or out of the stadium (mostly because we got there early and most Cardinals fans left with two minutes to go). We didn’t get harassed at all despite wearing Bucs gear, another polar opposite from Chase Field.

But home’s the way to go.

(Going to the game did spare me having to hear Chris Myers call the game. I’ll disagree with Bill Simmons that this is the worst call ever, but it’s fairly lame. It probably doesn’t make the top ten list of dumb things Myers has done, though. And, oh, by the way, Arrelious Benn pushed off. I didn’t see that live.)

21st century journalism is about getting it first, not getting it right. Case in point, the Tampa Tribune:

First story, 11:14am: The Tampa Bay Bucs have “huge interest” in free agent defensive end Aaron Kampman, late of the Packers, according to a report in the National Football Post.

Second story, 4:10pm: Maybe not, according to WDAE radio.

Note that at no point does the Trib do any of its own reporting on this. Well done.

EDIT: Kampman signed with Jacksonville. So there you are.

With the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the midst of a horrendous season (even for them), I dug up some fond memories of the (mostly) good old days. Okay, there were some bad days then, too, but at least now we can look back on them fondly, like we do with the creamsicle uniforms now.

Anyway, at left is a ticket stub from the final game of the 0-26 streak to start the Bucs’ existence. I believe this was the first Buc game (but not the first NFL game) I ever attended. Walter Payton ran for 101 yards on 33 carries and a touchdown where he went over the top (like he did a lot) right in front of us. The Bears scored all 10 of their points in the 4th quarter and, if you knew the Bucs’ offense then, that was really all you needed. They couldn’t score in Amsterdam’s Red Light District.

More ticket stubs and (better) memories after the jump. (more…)

I’ve been derelict in blogging of late. Between podcasting, Twittering, Facebooking, working, parenting and lots of other stuff, blogging has suffered.

But these things caught my eye on this Monday:

• Women’s Professional Soccer’s expansion team is apparently going to be called the Independence (now when they play the Freedom, can Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck be far behind?) And it’s going to be Independence because that’s what owner/coach Matt Driver wants, and he knows you people can’t be trusted to come up with a name:
  

  “It wasn’t an easy decision coming up with the name, because I am such a control freak,” Driver told the Daily News. “We didn’t want to leave it up to a fan vote or a poll, becasue we wanted a name that when you thought Philly, would signify the historical past of the people and the spirit of what Philadelphia stood for during the Revolution.”

• Would you believe baseball playoff games that start before 8pm ET? No way! Way!
• Tony Kornheiser has stepped out of the Monday Night Football booth and will be replaced by Jon Gruden. The Jon Gruden who said today “I grew up a fan of Monday Night Football, and whether I’ve coached on Monday night or watched, I’ve hardly missed a game all these years,” but who, in 2007, said “I don’t watch ESPN. I don’t believe half the [expletive] people on the channel, personally – no disrespect.” (No, who could take that as being disrespectful, Jon?)

  There’s no truth to the rumor that Gruden is going to want to keep switching stage managers in the booth every week until he finds one he likes.

  This is actually a good thing because it gets Mr. Tony back to radio, which he does very well.

• Another clever commercial from the Kansas City Wizards (thanks to Goff):
  
  
  

• Indoor soccer in Phoenix? I’m skeptical, but if the Coyotes indeed move back to Canada, there’s a big, gaping hole in Jobing.com Arena’s annual schedule and budget. NISL Commish Dave Grimaldi (an indoor soccer guy, through and through) says it’s possible. Dave, I know one of the few experienced indoor soccer announcers in this country, so give me a bell if you put a team here. I’ll put you in touch with him.

It’s not often that your favorite football team can trade for a guy with a bad reputation and leave you saying, “Well, at least he’s not that guy.”

I just heard the news that the Bucs have acquired tight end Kellen Winslow, Jr. from the Browns. Kellen is not your father’s tight end, which, in a manner of speaking, means that he’s most definitely not Kellen Winslow, Sr. Junior has a checkered past, to say the least.

But he’s still not as big a miscreant as the tight end who’s (apparently) leaving. I’ve written about Jerramy Stevens before, and with him and Jon Gruden and Bruce Allen gone, I’m really looking forward to football season.

We just need to keep Winslow off motorcycles.