The folks over at Tailgate365 decided that yours truly should have his own domain name, without the wordpress attached to it. So, suck on that.
Anyways, here is the new site, it can also be accessed by typing thecitythatreeds.com for the URL.
So, go there, comment and click on the ads so I can get paid bitches.
The City That Reeds didn’t miss much this weekend other than the signing of a wide receiver and his premature retirement before ever seeing the practice field.
Instead of playing out his one-year $745,000 contract for the Ravens, wide receiver Drew Bennett gives the Ravens the ol’ ‘no that’s OK’ and retires instead.
Bennett’s retirement was chalked up to old age and a deteriorating body. “After an off-season of workouts and rehab, I thought I was ready to play again, but it became apparent over this weekend that while my mind is willing, my body will not be able to make it through another NFL season,” Bennett said. “I have been blessed to have the opportunity to play in the NFL for as long as I have, but it is time for me to move on to the next chapter in my life.“
Sounds like Brett Favre, circa June 2008. Really, you’re that tired? You made one catch last year. And you’re tired.
Now, with training camp less than 24 hours away, Baltimore’s wide receiver core has more holes to fill than a Heaven’s Gate reunion. The Ravens are expecting the wide receiver formally known as Derrick Mason, to make a decision on his return to football by the middle of this week.
Everyone remembers when a Philadelphia man accused Marvin Harrison of shooting him last year. Well, either Harrison really wants this man to go away, or he has the worst luck in the world.
Being shot once I would think causes a good bit of baggage on one’s self. But to have another incident where someone tries to dispose of you again, this time shooting seven times has to be emotionally and physically daunting.
Dwight Dixon, Harrison’s accuser, was shot seven times late Tuesday morning and still remains in critical condition in a Philadelphia hospital.
“Dixon was convicted of a misdemeanor in January for lying to police about the 2008 shooting. His lawyers said he lied because he feared Harrison, who at the time was a member of the Indianapolis Colts.”
OK, so ESPN can longer hide behind that corporate policy bullshit, because Harrison was not arrested let along convicted last year of shooting this man the first time.
Yet, low and behold there was the story on ESPN’s headlines.
However, ESPN has finally put up on their website saying that no criminal report will be filed. The Lake Tahoe Police Department have taken the same apathetic attitude as the worldwide leader, saying they won’t look at the Roethlisberger case unless there is a criminal report.
As for Harrison, this recent hiccup will probably dispel any hope Harrison had of ever playing with the Ravens, they don’t want that sort of baggage to an old injury prone receiver.
Training camp is only a few days away and the Ravens’ wide receiver core is years away from being complete. According to an article in the Baltimore Sun by David Ginsburg, Harbaugh is ‘hopeful and optimistic’ that recently retired receiver Derrick Mason will be at training camp.
See, joke’s over Derrick, get back to work and restore the natural order of things.
There were too many signs that pointed to Mason comeback, he would practically be forced to comeback due to Mason’s financial situation. I spoke with a source close to the Ravens brass and they said that apparently Mason’s wife had recently left him after the season and that he would also owe the Ravens money for services lost or whatever sort of legal spin you would want to throw on his situation.
So, a giant I told you so is in place if Mason does show up on Monday to report to camp.
Harbaugh and Mason spoke last night and Harbaugh said he was hopeful that Mason would have a change of heart by next week.
“He’s ready physically. He’s in good shape and he’s healthy. He just wants to decide if he’s mentally ready,” Harbaugh said. “It’s really open right now. I’m optimistic and hopeful that he’ll be there, but if he’s not there, we’ll … support and respect his decision either way.“
Good to know.
This isn’t the first time Big Ben’s debauchery has been kept out of the mouths of the worldwide leader. Or any quarterback for that matter.
Do any of you remember when ESPN reported the photos of Big Ben conveniently sloshed at some Detroit bar before the Super Bowl? Of course you don’t, because it never happened.
Or when ESPN told you about Michael Vick checking into a hotel with an unclean woman under the name Ron Mexico, and then continued to pass her his herpes? No, because the worldwide leader never covered it. It is because ESPN is owned by the NFL. The ad money that the NFL generates for the worldwide leader is extensive, and any bad press ESPN can’t afford to have that pulled over sexual assault, drunk photos or herpes.
Well, this is more of the same, PFT and a Pittsburgh TV station, WTAE-TV, are reporting that Roethlisberger has been slapped with a civil suit of sexual assault. Apparently, Roethlisberger asked for Harrah’s employee Andrea McNulty to come up and fix his television, Ben then allegedly forced her to have sex with him.
Which is more shocking remains to seen, the fact that McNulty didn’t file a criminal lawsuit or that Big Ben was hanging out a Harrah’s. Seriously? Harrah’s? You won the Super Bowl Ben, did she let you go in the back door or something?
Currently the run down on ESPN is ‘At This Hour’, ‘TOUR de FRANCE’, TOUR STANDINGS’, ‘LANCE ARMSTRONG’, ‘FAVRE DECISION’, ‘VICK’ LATEST’ and ‘CRAZY COMEBACK’.
Uh, guys? A Super Bowl champion has been slapped with a sexual assault suit that includes, one civil count of assault, one civil count of sexual assault and battery, one civil count of false imprisonment, one civil count of false pretenses, one civil count of fraud, and one civil count of intentional infliction of emotional distress. It would have been funny if the emotional distress was caused by Big Ben romping her out wearing the Steely McBeam head.That’s kind of a big deal.
But it is probably a misunderstanding, the worldwide leader just forgot.
While Trent Dilfer tries to revive his stature within the celebrity world by finishing in the eighth spot in the American Century Celebrity Golf Tournament, Todd Heap has emerged as a really horrible golfer.
Heap, who missed the first few days of training camp last year because it was his daughter’s birthday, has had received a stigma of an oft injured tight end who generally never plays a complete season. So, Heap decides to golf while rehabbing a back injury that has plagued him all offseason.
And Heap isn’t even good at golf.
Heap finished only a few points ahead of Trent Green, whose brain has been reduced to mush and an upper spine that is hanging on by a thread. Heap tied for 62nd with former New York Yankees right fielder Paul O’Neill in the tournament.
Meanwhile, Charles Barkley finished last with -97 points, but he almost beat Chuck Liddell who finished with -94 in the tournament.
Ravens training camp starts a week from today, maybe Heap will find other hobbies that will be easy on his back, like rolling down stairs or rodeo.
Aside from being lucky enough to backup Tony Banks and being on a team with one of the greatest defenses of all time and having them carry him to a Super Bowl victory, Trent Dilfer’s career has meant absolutely nothing to anyone else outside of the 410 area code maybe, 443 and 301 but that’s about it.
However, the folks over at the celebrity golf event in Lake Tahoe think otherwise. Dilfer has been selected the winner of the Brodie Award! What is the Brodie Award you might ask?
Well, it’s an award that recognizes “an individual’s accomplishments in both a chosen profession and in the sport of golf. It’s given each year by organizers of the American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe.”
So basically its like going to summer camp and winning a raffle. Since the award recognizes excellence in a chosen profession (so everyone, since they are fucking celebrities people think they have excelled in their chosen career), and you are pretty good at golf, well it is a golf tournament so like, what if you stay under 100 for a round you can qualify to win this banal award?
And apparently this tournament is going on from July 14-19, however I have yet to locate a leaderboard anywhere on the site, or anywhere else for that matter. Granted I didn’t look very hard either.
Do athletes realize that they are still public figures, and thus subject to public scrutiny? Troy Smith apparently has admitted (via Twitter) to the purchasing of a certain substance that happens to be controlled by certain federal agency like the DEA.
The context of this whimsical Tweet all started when Ravens cornerback Fabian Washington throws out an outrageous hypothetical question. Here it is…
FABEWASH31WHAT IF YOU GOT A 23 QUADRILLION DALLAR BILL. WOW http://tinyurl.com/kuhvta
To which Smith, who was probably high at the time, misread the context of bill and thought it was a quadrillion dollar bill instead of the actual quadrillion dollar check. Smith failed to read the article that Washington had posted, laziness is conducive with the onsets of marijuana.
Smith then so eloquently responded with…
TroySmith10@FABEWASH31 I’d buy every different type of bud in the World…lol
Ah, the plot thickens. Troy Smith apparently enjoys that sweet sticky herb.
Who wouldn’t want to burn one down after every practice knowing that you were a Heisman finalist and now you’re backing up some bushy eyebrowed bumpkin from Delaware.
Bummer dude.
Much thanks to Right Off Russell who posted this little tidbit this morning regarding the Ravens’ ratings in the upcoming Madden 2010.
Here you go gamers…
“The Ravens have traditionally been very tough on defense over the last decade and things will be no different in Madden NFL 10. Led by perennial Pro Bowlers Ed Reed (99 OVR/97 ZONE/84 CTH) and Ray Lewis (97 OVR/97 TAK), the Ravens are definitely one of the top defensive teams this year in Madden. OLB Terrell Suggs (90 OVR) wrecks havoc on the outside and DE Haloti Nagata (90 OVR/97 STR) is a force against the run. CB Fabian Washington (77 OVR/98 SPD) is back to build on a solid season and he is paired up with free agent pickup Dominique Foxworth (82 OVR/93 SPD), forming one of the faster starting duos in the league. On offense, QB Joe Flacco (81 OVR/97 THP) is back for his sophomore season and is ready to open the offense up a bit more this year. Many of the same faces return: WR Derrick Mason (88 OVR/94 CTH) leads the 20th ranked WR unit, the three-headed monster of Willis McGahee (83 OVR), Ray Rice (78 OVR), and Fullback Le’Ron McClain (92 OVR/89 TRK) will share the carries again this year, and Todd Heap (84 OVR) is back at TE. On the offensive line, the Ravens have some great building blocks in Guard Ben Grubbs (87 OVR) and Tackles Jared Gaither (81 OVR) and 1st Round Pick Michael Oher (77 OVR).“
Granted this overall rating is with Derrick Mason in the lineup. However, I think Flacco deserved a little bit higher rating since he was rated an overall 80 in 2009. Really? Only one point of improvement? Maybe EA Sports didn’t realize he took them to the AFC Championship game. Oh well.
Pre-order your copy today, I already have.
The Ravens eccentric linebacker and most likely heir to the Ray Lewis defense, has agreed to a six-year deal worth $63 million. HOT DAMN!.
It was just yesterday that The Baltimore Sun reported that Suggs was doing his best impression of Jeffrey Lebowski, considering his concerns about a new deal.
“Like I said before, it’s just some minor things that both sides can compromise on and get an agreement,” Suggs told The Baltimore Sun Tuesday afternoon. “I’m not stressing out over this because I’ve always thought there are only two things that can happen: we either get a deal done or we don’t.“
How this deal got done is beyond me, since Ozzie Newsome was on vacation when Mr. Perfect Timing Derrick Mason announced his retirement.
Now the only obstacle left is either to convince Mason that he has unfinished business with the Ravens or work on finding a new receiver. Marvin Harrison is a little skiddish and sketchy for Harbaugh’s taste, however, the options at wide receiver are few and far between. There is a receiver with a questionable manhood (Edwards), a whiner (Boldin), a girlfriend slugger (Marshall) and a suspected murderer (Harrison).
However, despite wide receiver woes, which seem to be ever-on-going anyways, fans can now be at peace that the organized chaos has come to order with the six-year tenure of Mr. Suggs.
