Hi Folks,
We do a lot of really insightful, thoughtful and serious features here at Footballguys with some very smart people thinking deeply for you. This is not one of those features.
This is Random Shots and it’s a few pages of me downloading my goofy and dysfunctional mental hard drive that gets stuffed with way too many random items from too many hours watching, reading about and listening to football every weekend and throughout the week. It's the only way I keep relatively sane. Here's hoping it has a tiny bit of value for you.
We’ll see how it goes. Let’s get to it.
J
Opening this week with a Soccer note.
Sometimes you have to do it all...
Richard Sherman with another example of the "hair is part of the uniform" rule.
Thanks to Michael Shamburger for that one.
There wasn't much college football on Saturday, but what it lacked in number of games, it made up for in intensity.
I'm with Lindsay Jones, tell me more about how great this 18 game season will be...
Stephen A. Smith disagreed with Herm Edwards' take on players putting team ahead of themselves. I'm shocked.
My favorite part though was the "emphatically" disagree. Made me think of the "strenuous" objections from A Few Good Men. See the video here.
Have you heard about the new Star Wars movie coming out this week? For you multi-taskers who want to catch up, here's how to watch all six episodes of Star Wars. At once.
Because that's how Footballguys roll.
Brandon Marshall winning on and off the field.
I owe lots of things to lots of people that helped me get where I am today. I owe nobody more than my Buddy Bob Harris who gave me a start in this business. Fun picture of him from this weekend at the FanDuel $12 Million Dollar WFFC event. Talking to some guy named Joe...
God Bless Cleveland Fans.
Even (especially?) these two lovebirds...
I bet this was a fun discussion.
"Hey Hon, I bought you a Browns Jersey. I'll be 74 and you can be 75. You'll love it. I got names on the back and everything..."
These are a regular feature now. This week's edition of "Tom Jackson's face tells us everything he's thinking about being forced to do this segment with Stephen A. Smith"
Johnny Manziel doing Johnny Manziel things...
Before the game.
During the game.
Two seconds later, he was all this...
Awww.
And on the sidelines after throwing an interception.
But here's what I liked most. After the game he had this when asked about what he saw on the tablet that made him so mad.
I'm no defensive coordinator. But covering 15 would be a good idea.
As a general rule, any player wearing #99 will not run down the wide receiver.
Sports Illustrated chose Serena Williams as their Sportsperson Of The Year. Cool. Believe it or not, there was a fair amount of internet outrage that American Pharoah didn't win. Some defended Williams. Others wanted Pharoah. Some were in the middle.
The Cauldron wrote what I'm sure is a fine article with this intro:
Which completely misses the point.
People aren't dismissing American Pharoah because he's "just a horse". People are dismissing American Pharoah because HE IS A HORSE.
Good grief. Is this how all horse people are? If so, Random Shots for horseguys.com (I don't even want to see what comes up at that site address) would write itself. I'm working too hard at this Football thing...
These are old but still fun. NFL Quarterbacks If They Were Bald.
Just more examples that there's no shame in taking it all off. See more at TrendingTopLists.com.
Lebron James posted a selfie.
Naturally, the Internet responded...
My favorite matchup of the week was easily LeSean McCoy returning to Philadelphia.
McCoy hugged Eagles owner Jeff Lurie, kissed the Eagles logo which was super weird and awkward, then avoided his former coach Chip Kelly in warmups. After the game, McCoy abruptly left the locker room refusing to talk to reporters.
What do you make of that? On one hand, I sort of get it. Guys like McCoy are incredibly intense competitors. This was not a game where he smiled and swapped jerseys after the contest. This loss stung. Now maybe I should be more of the smile after it's all over guy, but I admit I kind of like and identify with the guy who wants to win so badly.
On the other hand, be a pro. If you're going to run your mouth all week, be a stand-up guy when things don't go your way. Maybe you don't shake Kelly's hand if there's really an issue there. But at least talk to the reporters. Many who are from Buffalo and just trying to do their job.
And side note thought from Sunday morning - I'm going to puke if I hear one more "McCoy is going to play with a CHIP on his shoulder"...
I hope we don't hear much complaining when the Rams move to Los Angeles. Pre-Game "crowd" at Edward Jones Dome Sunday.
Cutler tells offensive coordinator Adam Gase he doesn't think the Bears are making the playoffs.
Gase's reply...
Ok. That's made up. Maybe.
Thanks to NFLRetweet for that one.
Never fails. The announcers started talking up Tyrod Taylor having the longest active streak in the NFL without throwing an interception. Which was correct for about fifteen minutes...
The Panthers are reportedly lobbying the tech people at Vine for a special posting that allows a 45 second video. That way they can get the full celebration in from Cam Newton...
But you have to love the kid thing...
And he continues to win the post game pressers too.
The Fox Tail is apparently a thing now. He broke out a red one this week along with a Santa Dab sweater visiting kids.
Note to Jacksonville's Marqise Lee: Easy there, Fella. I know you didn't mean to, but knocking the official's cap off is almost always a bad thing...
Thanks to The Cauldron for that one.
Marcus Mariota isn't a prime time receiver, but you at least have to cover him...
Click here for the video.
Caption this one.
DeMarco Murray was the 4th string running back for the Eagles Sunday.
I wonder if he misses this offensive line...
Thanks to The Cauldron for that one.
Even Aaron Rodgers is jumping on the Dab craze...
Jay-Z in the Rams locker room following the game.
Jay-Z's Roc Nation agency represents Rams running back Todd Gurley.
Speaking of agents, Tyrod Taylor needs to fire his agent and hire whoever landed this deal for Ryan Mallett.
If the Raiders can do without Khalil Mack for a bit, I think we may have this ISIS thing figured out...
Tennessee "defensive back" Perrish Cox felt better about two seconds before this picture than he did two seconds after. Click here to see the video.
After a disappointing Week 13 game, Cox pledged we'd see a "whole different game this week". I'm not sure this is what he meant.
After the game, Cox was spotted dressed and heading to his other job...
Thanks to Footballguy Matt Cox for that one.
MMA note.
Conor McGregor fought Jose Aldo last weekend. The fight lasted 13 seconds.
I could write a bunch of words, but the reactions from the corners tell the whole story.
McGregor's corner.
Aldo's corner.
Brian Hoyer makes a lot of money. Brian Hoyer earns a lot of money. Click here for the video.
This to me seems like the key to Houston's defense. J.J. Watt will take up two blockers. If Jadeveon Clowney can consistently do this, this unit could be scary.
Oh Vernon...
I'm not sure what these guys are doing on Sundays, but they'd be heroes at the Bills Tailgate...
Click here for the video.
That's Kalista with his signature Salida del Sol flip. Yikes.
You've seen the highlights of the Cam Newton to Ed Dickson "thread the needle" touchdown. Here's my favorite version of it. From our friends Jaime Moreno and Luis Moreno, Jr. on the Panthers Spanish Radio Broadcast. Click here for the video.
Utah punter Tom Hackett earned his spot on the Black Eyed Joe's team. He won the Ray Guy award this year. I'm going to assume that the interview portion of the award does not factor into who wins the award. Click here to see the clip where Hackett answers honestly why he's playing.
Danny MacAskill is an alien. Click here if you want to see insanity on a bicycle.
Wrapping with this one.
Oakland coach Jack Del Rio went for a two point converstion attempt Sunday after the Raiders scored a touchdown to go up 15-12. Obviously, that's a spot where the normal call is the point after kick.
Not surprisingly, the Internet erupted with Armchair Coaches yelling about Del Rio's "stupidity".
Regular readers know I'm all about Football as Life stuff. And this was a great example.
Here's the rule: Assume The Best Of Others.
It's not complicated and means exactly what it says. Let your first response be offering the other person the benefit of the doubt. Assume The Best.
While everyone online couldn't get to the keyboard fast enough to mock Del Rio, I saw one writer show us what Assuming The Best looks like.
Tafur, of course, was exactly right. Del Rio had just a bit more information than the iCoaches on Twitter and did what he had to do. And for sure, this doesn't really matter in Football. Del Rio's feelings aren't hurt and he's not too worried about Twitter critics. But in real life, this often does matter.
Let us (especially me) be more like Vic Tafur here.
That'll do it for this week, Folks. Thanks to Footballguys Doug Drinen, Clayton Gray, Keith Overton, Kent Bailey and Matt Cox for the help on this one. If you've got a Random Shot of your own, shoot me an e-mail at bryant@footballguys.com.
Thanks for playing along. I hope you make the most of whatever you're doing in your life. Love your neighbor and stick together.
Peace and Grace to you.
J
We do a lot of really insightful, thoughtful and serious features here at Footballguys with some very smart people thinking deeply for you. This is not one of those features.
This is Random Shots and it’s a few pages of me downloading my goofy and dysfunctional mental hard drive that gets stuffed with way too many random items from too many hours watching, reading about and listening to football every weekend and throughout the week. It's the only way I keep relatively sane. Here's hoping it has a tiny bit of value for you.
We’ll see how it goes. Let’s get to it.
J
Opening this week with a Soccer note.
Sometimes you have to do it all...
Richard Sherman with another example of the "hair is part of the uniform" rule.
Thanks to Michael Shamburger for that one.
There wasn't much college football on Saturday, but what it lacked in number of games, it made up for in intensity.
I'm with Lindsay Jones, tell me more about how great this 18 game season will be...
Stephen A. Smith disagreed with Herm Edwards' take on players putting team ahead of themselves. I'm shocked.
My favorite part though was the "emphatically" disagree. Made me think of the "strenuous" objections from A Few Good Men. See the video here.
Have you heard about the new Star Wars movie coming out this week? For you multi-taskers who want to catch up, here's how to watch all six episodes of Star Wars. At once.
Because that's how Footballguys roll.
Brandon Marshall winning on and off the field.
I owe lots of things to lots of people that helped me get where I am today. I owe nobody more than my Buddy Bob Harris who gave me a start in this business. Fun picture of him from this weekend at the FanDuel $12 Million Dollar WFFC event. Talking to some guy named Joe...
God Bless Cleveland Fans.
Even (especially?) these two lovebirds...
I bet this was a fun discussion.
"Hey Hon, I bought you a Browns Jersey. I'll be 74 and you can be 75. You'll love it. I got names on the back and everything..."
These are a regular feature now. This week's edition of "Tom Jackson's face tells us everything he's thinking about being forced to do this segment with Stephen A. Smith"
Johnny Manziel doing Johnny Manziel things...
Before the game.
During the game.
Two seconds later, he was all this...
Awww.
And on the sidelines after throwing an interception.
But here's what I liked most. After the game he had this when asked about what he saw on the tablet that made him so mad.
“They ended doubling the out route that we had as No. 1. I was more upset getting to the sideline, obviously about the pick, throwing it back across my body, I know better than that. I think looking at the [Microsoft] Surface [tablet], once I saw the Surface, seeing that they dropped, Gary – wide open. With 1:40 left, 1:30 left, whatever it was, maybe even a minute, to get a touchdown there before the half on a busted coverage, you have to make them pay on things like that. That doesn’t happen all the time in the NFL. I was more upset knowing that we are going to be watching that on film tomorrow and watching Gary run right down the middle of the field, right down the middle third wide open. I probably overreacted a little bit. Josh and everybody did a good job of making sure, ‘Take some deep breaths. Let it go.’ Learn from that and know that this isn’t freaking (Texas) A&M. Just throw it away. Second down, third down. Live to fight another day. There is a learning point going into the next week going into the future. I probably should (not) have overreacted the way that I did, but it is the NFL. When those chances are there, you have to make the most of them.”
This guy might make it yet. Stay tuned.
I'm no defensive coordinator. But covering 15 would be a good idea.
As a general rule, any player wearing #99 will not run down the wide receiver.
Sports Illustrated chose Serena Williams as their Sportsperson Of The Year. Cool. Believe it or not, there was a fair amount of internet outrage that American Pharoah didn't win. Some defended Williams. Others wanted Pharoah. Some were in the middle.
The Cauldron wrote what I'm sure is a fine article with this intro:
Which completely misses the point.
People aren't dismissing American Pharoah because he's "just a horse". People are dismissing American Pharoah because HE IS A HORSE.
Good grief. Is this how all horse people are? If so, Random Shots for horseguys.com (I don't even want to see what comes up at that site address) would write itself. I'm working too hard at this Football thing...
These are old but still fun. NFL Quarterbacks If They Were Bald.
Just more examples that there's no shame in taking it all off. See more at TrendingTopLists.com.
Lebron James posted a selfie.
Naturally, the Internet responded...
My favorite matchup of the week was easily LeSean McCoy returning to Philadelphia.
McCoy hugged Eagles owner Jeff Lurie, kissed the Eagles logo which was super weird and awkward, then avoided his former coach Chip Kelly in warmups. After the game, McCoy abruptly left the locker room refusing to talk to reporters.
What do you make of that? On one hand, I sort of get it. Guys like McCoy are incredibly intense competitors. This was not a game where he smiled and swapped jerseys after the contest. This loss stung. Now maybe I should be more of the smile after it's all over guy, but I admit I kind of like and identify with the guy who wants to win so badly.
On the other hand, be a pro. If you're going to run your mouth all week, be a stand-up guy when things don't go your way. Maybe you don't shake Kelly's hand if there's really an issue there. But at least talk to the reporters. Many who are from Buffalo and just trying to do their job.
And side note thought from Sunday morning - I'm going to puke if I hear one more "McCoy is going to play with a CHIP on his shoulder"...
I hope we don't hear much complaining when the Rams move to Los Angeles. Pre-Game "crowd" at Edward Jones Dome Sunday.
Cutler tells offensive coordinator Adam Gase he doesn't think the Bears are making the playoffs.
Gase's reply...
Ok. That's made up. Maybe.
Thanks to NFLRetweet for that one.
Never fails. The announcers started talking up Tyrod Taylor having the longest active streak in the NFL without throwing an interception. Which was correct for about fifteen minutes...
The Panthers are reportedly lobbying the tech people at Vine for a special posting that allows a 45 second video. That way they can get the full celebration in from Cam Newton...
But you have to love the kid thing...
And he continues to win the post game pressers too.
The Fox Tail is apparently a thing now. He broke out a red one this week along with a Santa Dab sweater visiting kids.
Note to Jacksonville's Marqise Lee: Easy there, Fella. I know you didn't mean to, but knocking the official's cap off is almost always a bad thing...
Thanks to The Cauldron for that one.
Marcus Mariota isn't a prime time receiver, but you at least have to cover him...
Click here for the video.
Caption this one.
DeMarco Murray was the 4th string running back for the Eagles Sunday.
I wonder if he misses this offensive line...
Thanks to The Cauldron for that one.
Even Aaron Rodgers is jumping on the Dab craze...
Jay-Z in the Rams locker room following the game.
Jay-Z's Roc Nation agency represents Rams running back Todd Gurley.
Speaking of agents, Tyrod Taylor needs to fire his agent and hire whoever landed this deal for Ryan Mallett.
If the Raiders can do without Khalil Mack for a bit, I think we may have this ISIS thing figured out...
Tennessee "defensive back" Perrish Cox felt better about two seconds before this picture than he did two seconds after. Click here to see the video.
After a disappointing Week 13 game, Cox pledged we'd see a "whole different game this week". I'm not sure this is what he meant.
After the game, Cox was spotted dressed and heading to his other job...
Thanks to Footballguy Matt Cox for that one.
MMA note.
Conor McGregor fought Jose Aldo last weekend. The fight lasted 13 seconds.
I could write a bunch of words, but the reactions from the corners tell the whole story.
McGregor's corner.
Aldo's corner.
Brian Hoyer makes a lot of money. Brian Hoyer earns a lot of money. Click here for the video.
This to me seems like the key to Houston's defense. J.J. Watt will take up two blockers. If Jadeveon Clowney can consistently do this, this unit could be scary.
Oh Vernon...
I'm not sure what these guys are doing on Sundays, but they'd be heroes at the Bills Tailgate...
Click here for the video.
That's Kalista with his signature Salida del Sol flip. Yikes.
You've seen the highlights of the Cam Newton to Ed Dickson "thread the needle" touchdown. Here's my favorite version of it. From our friends Jaime Moreno and Luis Moreno, Jr. on the Panthers Spanish Radio Broadcast. Click here for the video.
Utah punter Tom Hackett earned his spot on the Black Eyed Joe's team. He won the Ray Guy award this year. I'm going to assume that the interview portion of the award does not factor into who wins the award. Click here to see the clip where Hackett answers honestly why he's playing.
"The main reason I'm playing this sport right now is because I'm fat and I don't like running very far."
Danny MacAskill is an alien. Click here if you want to see insanity on a bicycle.
Wrapping with this one.
Oakland coach Jack Del Rio went for a two point converstion attempt Sunday after the Raiders scored a touchdown to go up 15-12. Obviously, that's a spot where the normal call is the point after kick.
Not surprisingly, the Internet erupted with Armchair Coaches yelling about Del Rio's "stupidity".
Regular readers know I'm all about Football as Life stuff. And this was a great example.
Here's the rule: Assume The Best Of Others.
It's not complicated and means exactly what it says. Let your first response be offering the other person the benefit of the doubt. Assume The Best.
While everyone online couldn't get to the keyboard fast enough to mock Del Rio, I saw one writer show us what Assuming The Best looks like.
Tafur, of course, was exactly right. Del Rio had just a bit more information than the iCoaches on Twitter and did what he had to do. And for sure, this doesn't really matter in Football. Del Rio's feelings aren't hurt and he's not too worried about Twitter critics. But in real life, this often does matter.
Let us (especially me) be more like Vic Tafur here.
That'll do it for this week, Folks. Thanks to Footballguys Doug Drinen, Clayton Gray, Keith Overton, Kent Bailey and Matt Cox for the help on this one. If you've got a Random Shot of your own, shoot me an e-mail at bryant@footballguys.com.
Thanks for playing along. I hope you make the most of whatever you're doing in your life. Love your neighbor and stick together.
Peace and Grace to you.
J
