Football | Larry Brown Sports

Willie Gary Suing NFL Over Rams Losing Super Bowl to Patriots

February 16, 2008 By Larry Brown 3 Comments

This actually is a legitimate lawsuit. Not like the crazy ass character Jonathan Lee Riches from the South Carolina prison who’s been known to sue Michael Vick, President Bush, Martha Stewart, and the lot, these guys have actually put together a suit. Former NFL player Willie Gary, who was on the Rams Super Bowl team, wants compensation for losing the Super Bowl amidst the allegations that the Patriots taped the Rams walkthrough the day before the game. A ticket broker is also suing too. Their cases:

Willie Gary … wants each member of the Rams Super Bowl roster to receive $25,000 – the difference between the bonuses paid to the losing team and the winning team.

Gary, who now lives in Atlanta and plays arena football, also wants compensation for not receiving a Super Bowl XXXVI ring, which now sell for $125,000 on the Internet auction site eBay, according to the suit.
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Through the lawsuit, the broker Kevin Hacker who also attended the Super Bowl, asked the federal court to grant 72,922 people who attended the game a full refund. At a face value of $400 per ticket, that would mean the NFL would have to return $29,168,800.

Imagine what all the people who attended Tim Donaghy officiated games would have to say in response to this suit. Good luck with it gentlemen. I don’t expect anything to happen, but it’s interesting to note the reaction from one of the Rams. Kurt Warner and Mike Martz were disturbed by the news and wanted the NFL to look into it. Dick Vermeil doubted the impact of the taping on the actual game. And Willie Gary, well, Willie Gary just wants some money out of this.

Filed Under: Football Tagged With: Bill Belichick, New England Patriots, St. Louis Rams, Willie Gary

OJ’s Former Agent Writing Book: How I Helped OJ Get Away with Murder

February 13, 2008 By Larry Brown 5 Comments

I spoke pretty vehemently in the past when OJ’s original book came out urging people NOT to purchase it. Why support that jerkoff? (unless you just wanted the money going to the Goldman family). Thankfully the publisher dropped out after all the initial backlash and the book, far as I know, fizzled. Well, guess that sign wasn’t enough for OJ’s former agent because he’s decided to author a book due out in April:

O.J. Simpson’s former sports agent of 18 years is writing a book: “How I Helped O.J. Get Away With Murder.”

Mike Gilbert’s book will be published by right-wing imprint Regnery, according to the Web site publishersmarketplace.com.

It is due out in April, just in time for the Juice’s armed-robbery trial in Las Vegas.

I honestly wonder how some people can live with themselves. Seriously. Can you believe such scumbags are living amongst us? And how can any sane publisher pick this thing up? I’ll have to make it a point from now on not to buy any Regnery books.

Filed Under: Football Tagged With: OJ Simpson

Ashlee Simpson Approves of Sister Jessica’s Boyfriend, Tony Romo

February 10, 2008 By Larry Brown Leave a Comment

We already knew that Jessica’s pops approved of Tony. Heck, story goes that he’s the one who set ‘em up. Then again, this is the same dude who supposedly bragged about his daughter’s rackage, so that shouldn’t come as one bit of a shock. Well, now we know that the family support for Jessica Simpson’s boyfriend, Tony Romo, is unanimous. As Ashlee told US Magazine:

“I love him!” the singer, 23, gushed to Usmagazine.com at the FUSE TV Grammy party at Goa nightclub in Hollywood last night.

When asked if she is happy for Jessica, she replied, “Absolutely happy. He is really cool.”

Added Ashlee’s beau, Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz: “He is a cool dude.”

Well, he’s on TV just as much as you guys, he threw for a Cowboys record 36 touchdowns this year, and he’s the quarterback of the Dallas freaking Cowboys. Doesn’t get much better than that. How could he not be a cool guy sporting a resume of that sort. I’m not sure how they all got to know each other. Maybe it was at one of the sing-along parties, or who knows, could’ve been in Mexico. And let me tell you, between Carrie Underwood, Sophia Bush, and now Jessica Simpson, Romo certainly has quite the dating resume.

Filed Under: Entertainment, Football, Gossip Tagged With: AShlee Simpson, Jessica Simpson, Tony Romo

Daniel Snyder Must Be One Big Turnoff

February 8, 2008 By Larry Brown 2 Comments

Daniel Snyder: friend to the assistant coach. He could be the best thing that’s ever happened to NFL assistants everywhere. Much like everyone used the Arkansas gig to leverage better deals with their current schools (see Tommy Tuberville, Butch Davis, and Tommy Bowden), everyone’s using Daniel Snyder and the Redskins to leverage better NFL jobs.

What, just last week Jim Mora was interviewing with the Redskins for their head coaching position, spending the night at Snyder’s guest house. The former Falcons head coach was said to be a good candidate for the job. Well, nothing happened there, but three days ago it was announced that Mora would succeed Mike Holmgren as the next Seahawks head coach. Pretty sweet deal (though probably a portion of the announcement also had to do with him not taking any potential gigs at U-Dub). Then after interviewing Tuesday and Wednesday with Snyder, Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo decided he would remain with New York and accept a new three-year contract to become the league’s highest paid defensive coordinator. And though he hasn’t yet received a new deal, Pete Carroll supposedly met with Snyder but nothing happened.

So what’s the deal here? How can all these people be meeting with Snyder, and at such lengths, only to not accept? The Skins seem like a good team, and the job seems somewhat desirable based on the talent currently on the roster. Maybe these candidates were using the negotiations as leverage and never intended to take the job. Or maybe, just maybe, they all get a bad impression from Dan Snyder. After all, the guy sounds like a huge prick according to one NFL coach.

Filed Under: Football Tagged With: Arkansas Football, Daniel Snyder, Washington Redskins

Alternate Perfectville Commercial by Reebok had the Patriots Won

February 7, 2008 By Larry Brown 14 Comments

In case you haven’t seen it yet (don’t worry, only about 97 million have), Reebok released a commercial immediately after the Giants won the Super Bowl starring the ’72 Dolphins. It was a great commercial showing the Dolphins partying it up in a city called “Perfectville, established 1972, population 1.” Then there was a gift sent from Eli Manning to Mercury Morris telling him he could enjoy perfection for another year. Might as well watch the entire Perfectville commercial to refresh your memory it’s so good. Well, I had two questions about the commercial. One, did they have several versions of the commercial based on who won the MVP award (and is that why the gift was from Eli)? The second question, and the most important, is what happened to the version of the commercial had the Patriots won the game? Follow me here for a moment.

There’s no way a company spends all sorts of money buying adtime and filming a commercial only to have it work “in the small chance the Giants win.” Clearly they filmed at least two versions of it, ready to roll it out as soon as the game ended depending on the victor. Here is the alternate Perfectville commercial Reebok probably thought it would wind up playing:

Perfectville, Population 2. Gotta love it.

Filed Under: Football, LBS' Greatest Hits, YouTubeage Tagged With: commercials, Eli Manning, Mercury Morris, New York Giants

Roger Goodell Considering Changing NFL Playoff Seeding Structure

February 5, 2008 By Larry Brown 8 Comments

I saw this over the weekend but like most events in sports, it was overshadowed by the Super Bowl. And matter of fact, considering what the Giants and Steelers have done the past three years, Goodell’s proposed changes might not even matter. But anything that gives more credence to the regular season in sports I’m in favor of, and this change would be one of them:

Speaking here in his annual state-of-the-league address, Goodell revealed a potential shakeup to the existing playoff system that would allow wild-card teams the possibility of a home game.

In the early stages of Goodell’s plan, which would require the owners’ longshot approval, the bottom two division winners by record in each conference would go on the road the first week if they have a worse mark than the wild-card teams.
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Goodell’s aim is to cut down on the obvious tanking of games at the end of the season by teams that have already clinched playoff position, the most glaring recent example being the Colts’ final-week home loss to the Titans this year.

Like I said, I’m in favor of a rule that would reward a team for playing better all year long, brushing aside divisions. If you have the Colts going 13-3 every year and you’re the Jags, you know you’re looking at a Wild Card road game, just as an example. They should have been rewarded with a home game for their good season. Probably not going to happen, but I think it should.

Filed Under: Football Tagged With: Roger Goodell

Patriots Still Best Team in NFL

February 4, 2008 By Larry Brown 22 Comments

They certainly weren’t the best team on Sunday. The Giants won the game fair and square. Not handily, but they certainly did enough to make me (and any sane person for that matter) say that the Giants earned the Super Bowl. They won it proper, no question about it. While the Patriots no longer belong in the “best team of all-time” conversation because they didn’t win it, I still believe they are the best NFL team I’ve ever seen. Simple as that. I’ve never seen another team go 18-1, nor have I seen another team dominate professional opponents as much as they did earlier in the year. Everybody said that they would be a failure if they didn’t win the Super Bowl after going 16-0 in the regular season. Most people have classified them as a failure for losing the biggest game of the year. I refuse to do so, as I said earlier in the year.

The Patriots still went 16-0. They did something nobody said could be done. Do you know how hard it is to win every single game in front of you? Everyone has No. 1 draft picks on their team. Everyone has top notch coaches working 18 hour days. Everyone studies tape and has multi-million dollar stars. And everyone was trying to beat the Patriots, yet nobody could do it. They impressed me and they were the best team I’ve ever seen. Sunday was one of the few close calls they had during the year that could have swung the other way. They had to sweat against the Colts, the Giants the first time, and they nearly lost to the Ravens. But they didn’t. They took everyone’s best shot and won. Most of the time, they won thoroughly and decidedly. That part of their season will never change. They set records and put out the best offense I’ve ever seen in the NFL. No, they didn’t complete the mission, but yes, they’re still the best team in the NFL, the best team I’ve ever seen, and I’m still wholeheartedly impressed by the fact that they went 16-0.

Filed Under: Football Tagged With: New England Patriots, Superbowl