SB Nation User Blog: potroast

Tynes seeks presidential pardon

potroast — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:32:27 -0000

From NY Daily News:

Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes wants one more unlikely victory in this Super Bowl year - and he's hoping the Bush administration can make it happen. Tynes, the hero of the NFC title game, seeks a White House order freeing his jailed brother Mark, a convicted drug trafficker doing 27 years. Lawrence Tynes acknowledges his older brother's guilt but believes the sentence is overly harsh Two factors are working against him: Bush has granted very few pardons or commutations. "This President has virtually ignored this power," said Prof. Dan Kobil, a pardon process expert at Capital University Law School in Columbus. "He's by far the stingiest pardoner." Second - and more problematic - is Mark Tynes' criminal history. He was saddled with a prior felony drug charge before his 2004 conviction as kingpin of a syndicate that transported 3,600 pounds of marijuana between Texas and Florida. Mark Tynes refused to cooperate with prosecutors - and his sentence was extended from 151 months to 324 months over allegations of witness intimidation. Without presidential help, Tynes isn't scheduled to leave prison until November 2026.

Good luck to Lawrence on this one. It doesn't sound too promising when you consider GW is not very lenient and the fact that all of Mark's friends sold him out so that everyone knows how guilty he is.

Oh, oh! Not more good press!

potroast — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:22:10 -0000

Peter King is now claiming that the best team in football after the Cowboys & Eagles losses is our New York Giants:

"Somewhere in between the Cowboys giving up 37 points to the Eagles and 381 yards to the Redskins -- both at home -- and listening to Terrell Owens complain last night that he's not getting the ball enough, I came to realize the team with the best talent is not the best team. At least not now. The Giants have retained the hunger of a team on the verge of winning a Super Bowl -- not of a team that just won one. In training camp, Justin Tuck told me the defensive linemen were sitting around at the team's Super Bowl party in Phoenix three hours after the game last February, all talking about winning another one instead of how they were going to celebrate this one. The Giants are deep at running back and wide receiver (even with the Plaxico Burress fireworks), have a workmanlike and versatile offensive line, are surviving the killer losses of Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora, and are maturing in the secondary. Will they win again? If they don't get a big injury on defense, and if Eli Manning continues his steady climb as a passer and leader, the answer is yes."

While I'm happy that at least 1 "expert" realizes that the best team is not always the one with all the big names, it worries me that the Giants are getting so much love. Let's hope their heads don't swell like they have in the past.

Shockey out 3 to 6 weeks

potroast — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:09:04 -0000

This from ESPN.com:

-New Orleans Saints tight end Jeremy Shockey will have sports hernia surgery this week and will miss three to six weeks.

The story was first reported by The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune. The injury had been bothering Shockey for weeks, the newspaper said, but was aggravated in Sunday's 34-32 loss to the Denver Broncos.

Of course this shouldn't be a surprise to anybody. Shock has been pretty banged up the last few years and his questionable health was one of the main reasons the trade didn't sting so much (well, at all). I do feel for the Saints though. They are having some tough luck so far this season.

It's no secret that we had some discussions with them and we just couldn't come to a conclusion on...

potroast — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:27:54 -0000

It's no secret that we had some discussions with them and we just couldn't come to a conclusion on the right compensation.

Saints GM Mickey Loomis on end of trade talks for Jeremy Shockey

NY Post Blog

Just because we now can, let's look at it another time.

potroast — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:23:44 -0000

Just because we now can, let's look at it another time.

Tynes Brothers

potroast — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 18:21:29 -0000

There is a very interesting article about Lawrence Tynes and his brother on ESPN.com. Check it out: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3340561

Amazing how different their lives ended up, even though they came from the same household. Also pretty interesting that his career really took off after his brother went to prison.

Dr Z's Position Matchups

potroast — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 14:25:44 -0000

Dr Z has posted a positional breakdown of Pats-Giants over at SI.com: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/dr_z/01/29/matchups.offense/index.html?eref=T1

I think he did a tremendous job. It's pretty rare that a national media member gives us such an in depth analysis. Here is an example of the breakdown at LCB:

"Aaron Ross (31)
Has been hurt late in the season and in and out of the lineup, which is the only reason I'm not giving him the edge. A good, active coverage man, but a rookie, and Brady likes to work against those. Usually lines up on the slot receiver."

Now this is against Asante Samuel, which if he just used the conventional wisdom like most of the media does, then he would never even consider that Ross might be as good as Samuel.

Overall the Pats O gets a pretty big edge over the Gmen (not surprising). He gives the Giants a slight edge on D and special teams with the Giants pretty close in the total tally.

Now I've been listening to WEEI (Boston) for the last few days and again and again they assume that the Pats talent level is A LOT greater than the Giants, often claiming that the Giants do not even have as good of talent as Dallas & Green Bay (even though we kicked their butts). As Giants fans we have known that this team has had the talent, but just couldn't put it together for various reasons (buying into TC, Eli's consistency, etc ...) and the talent base got a huge lift by the great draft by Reese. I think what everyone is going to realize after this game is that win or lose this team has the talent to compete with anyone and that this game is a closer matchup then most people think it is. Go Giants!!

Spags Gone?

potroast — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 00:01:47 -0000

This from Mike Garafolo:

The Falcons have requested permission to talk to Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo about their open head-coaching job. According to someone who has been informed of the Giants' reply, the team said no -- for now. The person, who requested anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the coaching search, said it's just a temporary "no" until the team is eliminated from the playoffs.

He goes on to say that Spags & Jason Garrett are on top of the team's wish list. Man, that would suck to lose guy after only one year. He's been a huge boost to a previously suspect coaching staff.

Eli strikes back, and Big Blue View Nation rejoices!

potroast — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 17:36:05 -0000

In case you missed it, Tiki criticized Eli during halftime show of the game Sunday (he did have some nice things to say too). Basically Tiki claimed that Eli was uncomfortable being a leader and that he wasn't sure that he'd ever be able to "be a leader of men".

Well, Eli responded:

"I don't always believe everything Tiki says. You know I feel very comfortable and I saw the deal last night and it seemed very rehearsed, kind of like his pre-game speeches."

He then went on to say:

"I feel confident in what I'm doing in getting the team ready and if you ask any of the players around here who the leader of the offense is they're going to say me."

This is good stuff. 1st, I'm glad someone spoke up about Tiki's B.S. Enough is enough with Tiki throwing his old teammates and coaches under the bus. It's obvious that his TV persona is more important to him than his friendships. 2nd, I love the confidence Eli is showing. It appears that he's making big steps this year both in his play and his leadership.

What about Reggie Sanders?

potroast — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 20:01:52 -0000

From CNNSI.com:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/jon_heyman/07/17/scoop.giambi/index.html

On Friday the Royals dropped their asking price on Sanders, and talks have progressed to the point where the Royals had a scout watching the Yankees over the weekend. Kansas City apparently is no longer insisting on prized pitching prospect Phil Hughes, Jose Tabata or Melky Cabrera and appears willing to choose from New York's second-tier prospects, which include Tyler Clippard, Jeff Karstens, Stephen White, Jeff Kennard and T.J. Beam. A deal may be expanded to also send relievers to the Yankees, possibly including veteran Elmer Dessens.

I think the lower asking price makes Sanders a much better option. Plus we know he's playoff tested.