Riddle Me This, Jishman

Considering the amount of money the Super Bowl commercials cost, one wonders which is better; the game or the commercials?

Here are the top ten commercials from 2008:

So here’s the question: When tomorrow’s game starts, are you more interested in the Super Bowl or the commercials?!

As the Super Bowl approaches, Steve Sabol the President of NFL Films calls the following play the “greatest play the Super Bowl has ever produced. It combined athleticism, romance and relevance.”

Here is the video:

Here’s my question: Do you agree with Steve Sabol? Is this the Greatest play the Super Bowl has ever produced? And if not, what play would you call the greatest Super Bowl Play?

Well, Jish, I did it; I googled Google and well, the internet didn’t break…. oh well, moving on!

My Question is: Which NFL star will be the the NFL MVP of the Super Bowl and will utter that famous line “I’m going to Disney World!!” this year?

Thank god for the RMTJ staff.

Two years ago, one of our commented on posts, “Mr. Rushmore of Athletes” was introduced in an AWARD-WINNING way. Yup, that’s right, that post won a “Jishy” (aka an award from the American Society of Jishmen or ASJ for short.)

I was watching ESPN’s Sportscenter and realized while it probably did nothing to influence the producers into doing this, I was pleased that they were following in the well-tread footsteps of RMTJ. They too are doing a Mt. Rushmore of Sports! So, I am dusting this great idea off, and giving it another go.

Before we start, here are our ground rules:
1.) Must be an athlete, owner, coach or commissioner of their respective sport or sports
2.) Must have been influential in some way (socially, athletically, successfully, etc.)
3.) Doesn’t have to be a major sport if it contributed influentially (see above)
4.) Doesn’t have to be a US citizen (thus, unlike before, Pele would be acceptable).

That being said, here are my four:
1.) Michael “Air” Jordan
2.) Babe Ruth
3.) Muhammed Ali
4.) Vince Lombardi

I know, I changed my tune from last time including Lombardi and not Gehrig, and while I still think Gehrig should be in the top 10, I’ve bumped him all the way to 7th and possibly lower - through no fault of his own, but last time we did this, people made a good point about Jesse Owens and even Jackie Robinson too. I gave it some serious thought and realized that as a country even if Baseball is still the nation’s pass time, I think Football is the nation’s passion - and especially when you look at the combination of ratings, money and rate of expansion of the high school, college and professional football leagues, you begin to see the whole story. College and Professional football rank higher than they ever have before on TV ratings. High school football is now being televised in some places where it never had before (unlike West Texas, for example) and even “signing day” or whatever colleges are calling it these days is being shown on ESPN U! (My feelings on that notwithstanding for the time being). For many people, Football is religion (as evidenced by the commercial with all the Pittsburgh Steelers memorabilia in that room), and Vince Lombardi was a symbol of professional football for many many years. In fact, the Super Bowl trophy - the highest award anyone can get in the sport besides obviously the NERFL trophy - is named for him: “The Lombardi Trophy”. That should be enough for me.

Just in case anyone was curious:
5.) Jesse Owens
6.) Michael Phelps
7.) Lou Gehrig
8.) Pele
9.) Jackie Robinson
10.) Wayne Gretzky

This morning on Sportscenter, Steve Young said that right now, before the Super Bowl, Kurt Warner deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. He cited two NFL MVP’s, a Super Bowl MVP and the fact that he took the last place Rams to the Super Bowl and an Arizona Cardinals team (that has never been to a Super Bowl) to this week’s game as reasons for his decision. And so Young said, regardless of whether or not Warner wins this week that he believes Warner is a Hall of Fame player.

Last week, It was a debate for Countdown Daily (click here to watch the video) between Tom Jackson and Merril Hoge.

So what do you think? Is Kurt Warner a Hall of Fame player?

Continuing our end of the season football coverage right up until the Super Bowl, the news of the day coming from the NY Daily News’ Gary Meyers who is speculating that Anquan Boldin would be a good replacement for Plaxico Burress:

One half of the Boldin-Larry Fitzgerald tandem could force a trade out of Arizona after the Super Bowl. Too bad for the Giants that Fitzgerald, the best receiver in the NFL, is locked into a four-year, $40 million contract with $30 million of it guaranteed and is going nowhere. But Boldin would be a nice second choice and may be available.

He has two years remaining on his four-year $22.75 million deal that pays him $2.75 million and $3 million in the next two seasons. He said over the summer the Cardinals lied to him about upgrading his money, which could lead to an offseason showdown and a potential trade.

So my question for all of those football fans out there; What do you think of Myers assertion the the Giants might want to look at Anquan Boldin in a trade?

And since we are on the topic of Plaxico; If he isn’t convicted, should the Giants take him back?

And we might as well ask about the Pink Elephant in the room; If Terrell Owens is dumped by the Dallas Cowboys, should the Giants entertain the notion of signing him?

I haven’t written much about these, but I love the concept of netbooks. In a nutshell, netbooks are slightly lower powered laptops with smaller screens meant to take advantage of the bigger computers that power the Internet. Think about it: You don’t use email through outlook anymore, you use gmail or hotmail. You don’t use MSFT word anymore, you use GooApps. You aren’t using any services on the desktop if you’re already using things like Twitter, Facebook or MySpace, so that never mattered. But I think the most important part about it is that these devices are cheap (on average from a very simple look: $300-$400), light (2.5lbs) and still featured (10″ screen, 1-2GB RAM, 120GB HD, sound & video cards, USB ports, etc). Depending on what you do, you can substantially reduce your cost and your footprint (carbon, or otherwise) by looking at devices sometimes beyond the pale.

Ultimately, what I’m saying is, sometimes a cheap laptop isn’t always a cheap laptop.

Related Link:

New York Times

As many of you who have crappy cell coverage in your homes may remember, a few months ago, I brought up the possibility that Verizon would be supporting a new piece of technology called Femtocells. Back then, I wrote that femtocells “use your existing Internet connection, add a device to it that acts as a micro-transmitter so the area can have more coverage than it presently has.”

Well, it looks as if I was right. Engadget is reporting that Verizon is now offering a network extender that will offer voice services with a one-time cost of $250 for the device and no monthly fee, unlike offerings from Sprint right now. For those of us who suffer from service deficiencies even when we live near or in large cities, this is a boon….well, that is unless you want services. GigaOM - a fantastic news blog with insightful commentary and a brilliant writing staff on technology subjects - is not such a huge fan. No, they ask why it doesn’t offer 3G services like high speed data, EVDO level service, mobile TV, etc.

I’ll be honest, I don’t need data. I don’t need SMS. I don’t need MobileTV. What I need is a phone that works, all the time. Not just between the hours of 2-3am when no one I want to call is awake. I have unlimited phone service with house phone and data with cable modem. Why do I need it on my cell phone too? When I am on the phone with family members while making dinner, I don’t want my phone to cut out, and I don’t have 3 hands - just one dedicated to holding the phone. So, if this is all it does and it only costs $250, then I will say I am all for it. Besides, the unlimited phone I have at home costs less than it would for the increase in minutes I’d inevitably use on my cell anyway.

The latest Football debate has been about whether Larry Fitzgerald is having the greatest post season of all time. He surpassed Jerry Rice in total numbers so far this year and Fitgerald still has one game left.

In an ESPN Insider article posted last week (you will need to have insider to view the post), Bill Barnwell stated:

It’s pretty close to impossible to argue that anyone but Larry Fitzgerald has been the MVP of this year’s playoffs. His ability to fight through double-teams and leap over defensive backs to make catches that cause viewers to question reality has led Fitzgerald to an astounding set of numbers: Through three games, he’s caught 23 passes for 419 yards and five touchdowns.

Barnwell decided to see if this statement would hold up between generations and this is what he found out….

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My beloved Terps got manhandled by Duke on Saturday in what can only be considered a major blowout. What caught me by surprise wasn’t that they lost, I didn’t necessarily expect them to win, but the margin of victory for Duke. The Washington Times had a list of the top 5 blowouts of all time. Most of these are historically lopsided. Any others that should be on this list?

Complements of the Washington Times:

TWT FIVE: BLOWOUTS

A Texas high school girls basketball game ended 100-0 this week, and Duke beat Maryland by 41 on Saturday. You want blowouts? We’ve got blowouts:

1. 1916, college football - Georgia Tech 222, Cumberland 0. The Yellow Jackets score a touchdown on every offensive play. Cumberland drops football for the next two years.

2. 1940, NFL - Chicago 73, Washington 0. The championship game, no less. The Bears outrush the Redskins 381-5 and intercept eight passes, returning three for touchdowns.

3. 1944, NHL - Detroit 15, New York 0. Ten Red Wings players score. Sid Abel gets the hat trick, scoring all three goals in the final eight minutes.

4. 1950, MLB - Boston 29, St. Louis 4. Bobby Doerr hits three homers and drives in eight runs for the Red Sox. Clyde Vollmer bats eight times in eight innings against the bewildered Browns.

5. 1991, NBA - Cleveland 148, Miami 80. “I don’t know what we played, but it wasn’t basketball,” the Heat’s Glen Rice said.

Continuing our neverending quest to NOT let the NFL season end… we continue our pre-Super Bowl banter.

Next Sunday, during the Super Bowl, Mike Tomlin (the former assistant to Tony Dungy) and Ken Whisenhunt (the former assistant to Bill Cowher) are just two head coaches who come up through the ranks by learning their craft at the hands of a successful NFL head coach. These guru’s have spun out a number of good head coaches over the years. Cowher has a bunch. Dungy has a bunch. Bill Parcells has a bunch of former coaches as head coaches around the league. Bill Walsh had a bunch. Jimmy Johnson had a bunch. Bill Belicheck has a bunch. Mike Holmgren has a bunch.

The question is; Which Head Coach has not only been successful themselves but been the best/greatest in respect to their “understudies” going on to being great head coaches in the NFL? In effect, in your opinion, who is the greatest NFL Coaching Guru with the successful legacies to prove it?

Side note: Because Jishman will ask, we are using definition #3 to define Guru. “any person who counsels or advises; mentor.” For example; Joe Torre was his coaching guru.

As we try to get over the fact that the NFL season is winding down, we continue with our “all football, all the time” banter right up until the Super Bowl.

Today we ask two simple questions:

1) Who are the top ten All Time NFL Running Backs?

2) And from that list, who is the greatest RB ever?

In the fine tradition of our “everything football” banter between the Division Championship Games and the Super Bowl, I bring you the latest football chatter.

Last year, I asked “Who Would You Choose: QB” Feel free to click on the link and add to the debate.

Anyway, over the past two weeks, there has been a lot of chatter about Donovan McNabb of the Philadelphia Eagles. Matt Mosely, at the ESPN Blog; NFC East wrote a post entitled “Is McNabb Already In The Hall Of Fame?” In the post Mosely states:

…I don’t think McNabb’s in right now. But a Super Bowl title this season would put him over the edge. Longtime Philly Daily News columnist Rich Hofmann agrees with me, and came up with the following stats:

Troy Aikman…3 SB wins…5 10-win seasons…81.6 QB rating…1.17 TD/Int.

Steve Young…1 SB win…5 10-win seasons…96.8 QB rating…2.17 TD/Int.

Donovan McNabb…0 SB wins…4 10-win seasons…85.9 QB rating…2.16 TD/Int.

But in Yesterday’s Phillyburb.com, Reuben Frank wrote an article entitled “Players: McNabb Isn’t To Blame” where he says in his opening line, “Donovan McNabb has lost more big games than most quarterbacks in NFL history, which means one thing. He has reached more big games than most quarterbacks in NFL history.”

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That’s right, folks. Brit-Brit is going to be writing her own autobiography. This news was brought to us by our expert reporter “down the shore” in the great state of New Jersey, Mommy McHates-You:

Had to rant about the latest — Britney Spears apparently will be getting many millions of dollars to write up to 5 autobiographies of her “fascinating” and “exemplary” life (quotation marks and phrasing is mine). That’s just what we need — to hear more about her and K-Fed and her losing her kids, etc., etc, etc. Not to mention the whole head shaving thing. This is just what we need for our kids to read — and I’m thinking Smiley McHappy on this one.

Our roving band of reporters continues to impress. Keep those great stories coming, people!