Sports

[gardenman]

The last monthly news and notes until February. From next month on it's a weekly update as too much stuff goes on for the monthly updates.

Thursday brings us the first preseason game as players in the Jets uniforms take on players in the Browns uniforms. Don't expect either team to play many, if any, starters. Or top backups for that matter. You'll see a lot of guys you've never heard of before and who you'll never hear of again after training camp. Still, it's football. Next week, every team has a preseason game and things liven up a bit.

Things are nice and quiet with the Eagles. No contract disputes, no major injuries, no big issues of any kind. Everyone seems to be getting along well and working together.

Expectations keep piling up for the Cowboys with some now saying they'll have a top-five defense this year. Eh, maybe. They need to keep Micah Parsons healthy and happy for that to happen. He's their difference maker. The rest of their defense is good, but there aren't many guys other teams would go out of their way to acquire. About half of their defensive starters tested free agency and went unsigned and went back to Dallas. Parsons is the key to their defense. He's the special guy. Everyone else is pretty much "just a guy." Parsons elevates them. 

There are a lot of disgruntled running backs around the league this year. Maybe the most we've ever seen. These are the upper-tier guys who aren't getting paid, and that's caught the attention of the lower-tier guys. It'll be interesting to see how many opt out of games due to nagging injuries they might have played through before.

Football is back! And it's about time!

[Spurt]

@gardenman @teganslaw @PARedbird 

Washington is in pads today.....

Terry McLaurin and QB Sam are developing nice chemistry---thats what fans have longed to see that our QB is getting the ball to Scary Terry (whoever the QB is or has been, out of the 10 Terry has had in his short career)....

"It's going well," McLaurin told reporters after practice. "He's gonna give guys a chance to make the play down the field, and he throws a really nice deep ball. So, he's growing. I like how he's doing and how he's communicating with us as well."

And Sam hasn't just targeted McLaurin more than the other receivers on the roster -- he wants to establish a working relationship with all of the talented WRs/TEs/RBs -- but there's that special connection you can see developing between Terry and Sam. Terry calls it a "nuanced connection".

One thing Lion's coach Dan Campbell has wished for was for the team to have a real pet lion on the field! Owner Sheila Ford Hamp was even on board with the idea. Live animal mascots are more common in college football than the NFL, although the Broncos have a live horse and the Seahawks have a live hawk, so the league isn’t totally opposed to them. But a live lion might be slightly too risky, which means the NFL said "no" which means the Lions will have to stick with their current costumed mascot, Roary

I remember when I was real little kid the Bears had a real bear in a cage and the Bengals had a pair of white tigers in a cage.....but I think the poor animals didnt enjoy the games, and Im sure Peta had a few things to say ...

[gardenman]

The American Eagle Foundation has a bald eagle named Challenger who flies around at Eagles games on occasion. He's probably at two to four games a year. Challenger had fallen from a nest and imprinted on his human handlers and despite two attempts to release him, he's now deemed unreleasable.

As live mascots go, that's pretty safe. A lion, bear, dolphin would be more challenging.

[Spurt]

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@gardenman wrote:

The American Eagle Foundation has a bald eagle named Challenger who flies around at Eagles games on occasion. He's probably at two to four games a year. Challenger had fallen from a nest and imprinted on his human handlers and despite two attempts to release him, he's now deemed unreleasable.

As live mascots go, that's pretty safe. A lion, bear, dolphin would be more challenging.

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@gardenman 

I remember when Miami had a small pool with a real Dolphin and a football to play with.......

Dan Campbell has interesting plans for his pet lion too-

 “Just a legit pet lion on a chain, a big ass chain, and he really is my pet. We just walk around the building, we go out to practice, we’re at 7-on-7, we’re behind the kicker when he’s kicking.”

Campbell said that he’d like the lion to play a role in letting a position group know they were underperforming by training it to “take a dump right there in the middle of where their section is” during a bad practice. He also acknowledged that he could wind up losing an arm to his new pet, “but that would be even better because it would validate what, this is a freaking, this a creature now.”

Campbell added he’d be willing to give up his arm if it meant a Super Bowl.

[Spurt]

@gardenman @teganslaw @PARedbird 

Well its truly TACO TUESDAY as the 49ers sign former DL Cowboy Taco Charlton...Charlton was a disappointment in two seasons with the Cowboys and was ultimately released early in 2019. He has spent time since then with the Dolphins, Chiefs, Steelers, Saints, Bears and Jaguars. In his career, Charlton has 11.5 sacks....

Jerry Jones says they have not ruled out re-signing Zeke Elliott....well the Cowboys better make a decision fast---its reported he's deciding between Jets, Bengals, and EAGLES!

[teganslaw]

I hope Dan Campbell doesn't go through with it. Some tame animals are OK, or ones that can no longer be released into the wild-like the eagle. Lions, bengal tigers and bears (oh my!) aren't around for people to use for their own entrtainment. Shame on Dan Campbell for even considering this. 

The Colts are thinking about placing Jonathan Taylor on the non football injury list. It's reported that he hurt his back while training outside the facility. (Taylor denies this.) The Colts won't have to pay him if he's on that list. Then Steichen says that Taylor will play when he's healed. In other words, no one knows exactly what is going on or what will happen.

[LavernLuvsShoes]

The Washington Commanders may not last much longer in name, as the franchise’s new leadership may be changing the name once again according to the latest betting odds.

The first major question is whether they will change the name at all, and it has become heavily favored after comments from Josh Harris and his new ownership group. The YES option is expected at -300 odds, while the NO side is valued at +200, according to BetOnline Sportsbook.

The process of the previous name change under Dan Snyder was a PR spectacle, and took years to get handled. They faced serious uproar to remove the former Redskins name, and finally gave in amid nationwide race reforms in the summer of 2020.

The second aspect is odds on what the next name could be, and there are more than a dozen options. A switch back to the former Football Team/Club is leading the pack at +600 odds, a name Washington held for two seasons before becoming the Commanders last year.

The long shot option is switching back to the Redskins at +2500 odds, which would cause a massive uproar and is unlikely to occur. But rumors are circling amid a change.org petition that is close to 50,000 signatures to go back to the traditional name, per USA Today’s CommandersWire. Head coach Ron Rivera recently commented on the subject matter of the new owners discussing the Redskins name, and played it in a favorable light.

[PARedbird]

@Spurt - oh please!  We do NOT need Zeke on our team!  NO thanks to him!  LOL on the Taco - never heard of him.  Is that your kitty dressed as a taco?  That's adorable!

@teganslaw - totally agree with you about the animals.  They don't need to add them to any stadium for anyone's entertainment!  It's fine what our team does as that eagle is not being held against its will if it cannot be released and only for a few games.  I think it's animal cruelty if they all want to start adding animals to the stadium and stressful for them too.  I find the mascots more entertaining anyway!  Our Philly Phanatic is hilarious, as is the coyote with the Spurs.  Let them all do the entertaining!  

[Spurt]

@PARedbird @teganslaw @gardenman 

Nope not my kitty, just a Tuxedo cat modeling a taco Halloween costume of all things 

I agree the crowd noise at a game would just scare the jeebeeviors out of a live animal so it would be cruel to have them at games.......and I dont think Dan Campbell realizes the power of these animals.  @TXRedbird, you may know already know this but the Spur's Tony Parker loves animals, hes done community work for the Humane Society ....Tony won the right to name the lions during a live auction at the zoo's annual gala.

After the lion cubs were weaned the animal caretakers put the mama and papa lion in the outside enclosure and let Tony in the inside den enclosure section to play with and name the baby lion cubs...He named the lions Josh, Axelle and TP after his family. ..Tony said when the male lion that was outside let out an earth shattering ROAR, his heart stopped and he said he hoped to God that someone made sure that the door to the inside enclosure was really secured!!!!...LOL  

I cant speak for the Philly Phanatic, but the Spurs Coyote is always funny and entertaining!

[Spurt]

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@LavernLuvsShoes wrote:

The Washington Commanders may not last much longer in name, as the franchise’s new leadership may be changing the name once again according to the latest betting odds.

The first major question is whether they will change the name at all, and it has become heavily favored after comments from Josh Harris and his new ownership group. The YES option is expected at -300 odds, while the NO side is valued at +200, according to BetOnline Sportsbook.

The process of the previous name change under Dan Snyder was a PR spectacle, and took years to get handled. They faced serious uproar to remove the former Redskins name, and finally gave in amid nationwide race reforms in the summer of 2020.

The second aspect is odds on what the next name could be, and there are more than a dozen options. A switch back to the former Football Team/Club is leading the pack at +600 odds, a name Washington held for two seasons before becoming the Commanders last year.

The long shot option is switching back to the Redskins at +2500 odds, which would cause a massive uproar and is unlikely to occur. But rumors are circling amid a change.org petition that is close to 50,000 signatures to go back to the traditional name, per USA Today’s CommandersWire. Head coach Ron Rivera recently commented on the subject matter of the new owners discussing the Redskins name, and played it in a favorable light.

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@LavernLuvsShoes 

Im a longtime Redskin fan and I heard all the hoopla about the name change!!!!

I absolutely HATE "Commanders" and would even prefer "The Washington Football Team".......some say Warriors but an NBA team has that name already!  I wouldnt mind Redwolves either!