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Shooting from the lip

Who in sports are just a bunch of "clowns"? Which player gets a raw deal from the NHL? Which two players got a raw deal from the Pro Football Hall of Fame voters? And whatever happened to Ryan Leaf? Answers to these and more in a look back at the best and worst from a weekend of televised sports.

By TOM JONES
Published February 5, 2007

Who in sports are just a bunch of "clowns"? Which player gets a raw deal from the NHL? Which two players got a raw deal from the Pro Football Hall of Fame voters? And whatever happened to Ryan Leaf? Answers to these and more in a look back at the best and worst from a weekend of televised sports.

Jan. 6, 2007

Feb. 3, 2007

Strongest comments

ESPN NFL analyst Mark Schlereth didn't hold back, criticizing Pro Football Hall of Fame voters for not selecting former Redskins wide receiver and teammate Art Monk.

"They are clowns and they should be ashamed of themselves because James Arthur Monk is one of the best that's ever played the game. ... I am dumbfounded (with) the Hall of Fame voters. Something has got to be done because that's ridiculous."

My complaints

I agree with Mark Schlereth. Art Monk should be in the Hall. He retired as the all-time receptions leader and 12 years later, he still ranks sixth. How Michael Irvin got in ahead of Monk is astonishing. Monk caught 190 more passes for nearly 1,000 more yards and caught three more TDs. Their postseason statistics are nearly identical with both players having three Super Bowl rings. And I don't know if this should matter, but Monk was a model citizen off the field, especially compared to Irvin.

Oakland punter Ray Guy also got a raw deal. He is the best to ever play his position. That alone says, "Hall of Fame."

Worst prediction

This goes back a ways. On ESPN's Outside the Lines, it was pointed out that before the 1998 NFL draft, New York's Newsday polled 20 personnel experts, asking who would be the better quarterback, Peyton Manning or Ryan Leaf? Leaf won 14-6.

By the way, OTL pointed out something I didn't know: Leaf and Manning have remained good friends throughout the years. And, as it turns out, Leaf has gone from being a 22-year-old punk to a mature 30-year-old man. After going 4-17 in four seasons as a quarterback, Leaf is living a quiet life as a quarterbacks coach at Division II West Texas A&M, where he doubles as the golf coach and makes $30,000 a year.

"It's quiet," Leaf said. "Enjoyable. Mundane. Pretty much the way I like it."

As far as moving past the perception that he was and always will be a jerk and a loser?

"I don't think you do" move past it, Leaf said. "I just got to go out and live my life."

Story of the week

When we should have been celebrating the crowning of a new champion and the pioneering efforts of coaches Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith, another NFL story has revealed a darker side to the game. In the wake of former players showing how difficult it is to get disability benefits (a reported 144 of 9,000 NFL players qualify) comes the claims from former Pats linebacker Ted Johnson that he was forced to practice while suffering from a concussion.

It led to the Boston Globe's Bob Ryan, on ESPN's Sports Reporters, letting fly with one of the best comments of the weekend: "The NFL is the sausage factory of sports. ... You know, the old analogy is if you like sausage, don't go to the sausage factory to see how it's being made."

Best comments

Kudos to Brendan Shanahan of the New York Rangers for blasting NHL officials over how teammate Jaromir Jagr is treated. Jagr has continually been harassed over the season but rarely gets the calls, not like other superstars get them. It's partly because Jagr is so strong he fights through the shenanigans. It's also partly because he never dives and rarely complains. But Shanahan went a step further and suggested there could be bias against Jagr because he is European.

And though Shanahan's claims are impossible to prove, I tend to believe him for two reasons: I've watched Jagr enough to know he gets worked over, and I know Shanahan well enough to know he's not a whiner.

Officially a sport

Okay, I'm sold. Poker is a sport. No, not because players do anything athletic (though I did have the breath knocked out of me the other night went I went all-in with three kings and lost to a flush). It's a sport because I noticed on NBC's coverage Sunday that every player has become a billboard with a Web site plastered on his shirt. If that isn't the "sports" way, what is?

Most schizophrenic coach

Seth Greenberg is making me look bad. Three weeks ago I was singing his praises after his Virginia Tech Hokies knocked off Duke. And I was driving the bandwagon when they upset then-No. 1 North Carolina. Then they go out last week and lose by 11 at home to N.C. State and get blown out by 21 at Boston College on Saturday. The way his Hokies are going, and the way USF seems to be turning things around lately, maybe Greenberg won't have the last laugh over the Bulls in the long run.

Funniest story

On the NFL Network, Deion Sanders sold out former teammate Emmitt Smith. Here's the story: You know how Disney gets the MVP to say, "I'm going to Disney World?" Well, they usually paid a player about $50,000. Before Super Bowl XXX, Sanders got Smith, quarterback Troy Aikman and wide receiver Michael Irvin to hold out for $100,000 if any of them was selected. Well, turns out that defensive back Larry Brown was named MVP.

Sanders picks up the rest of the story: "They came over to him and he said, 'I want $100,000.' Then they went to Emmitt and Emmitt sold (Larry) out for $25,000."

Upset of the weekend

Florida State's upset of Duke on Sunday proves one thing: Duke is really down this season. The funny thing is, UNC fans were clinging to the hope the Tar Heels would be in a sour mood for their showdown with hated Duke on Wednesday after losing to N.C. State on Saturday. Then Duke goes out and one-downs them. Now both will be in foul moods. It isn't a classic Duke-UNC matchup, but I'll be watching.

Number of the weekend

On ESPN's Sports Reporters, host John Saunders made a solid point: that though Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith are raising the profile of African-American coaches in the pros, the colleges are lagging woefully behind. Seven of the 119 Division I coaches are African-American. And only one (Washington's Tyrone Willingham) has coached at another school. Willingham coached at Stanford and Notre Dame, where he seemed to be dismissed prematurely after only three seasons of a five-year contract.

Best scoop

NFL Network's Adam Schefter said the Hall of Fame debate on former commissioner Paul Tagliabue lasted for 58 minutes, the most hotly contested of all the candidates.

[Last modified February 4, 2007, 23:11:19]