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Sports Pop - SPORTS POP: Football, Music & Libations

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SPORTS POP: Football, Music & Libations

Donte Stallworth served up some telling Tweets as he watched Super Bowl XLV.

After Aaron Rodgers connected with Greg Jennings on a 21 yard scoring strike (a thing of beautiful precision I might add) to extend the Packers lead to 21-3, Stallworth wrote, "I told y'all Packers would exploit that secondary!! But don't listen to me though, I only played the Steelers 3x this season.''

Later on Stallworth added, "Mike McCarthy spread the Steelers out on defense and look what happened! Take note play callers across the league"

The salvo was a not so subtle hint with a clear and present target in the crosshairs – Ravens’ offensive coordinator Cam Cameron.

Could this mean that Stallworth doesn’t expect to return to Baltimore?

Baltimore’s most notorious Ravens’ rumor monger is The Sun’s Mike Preston. Recently he once again fanned the flames of controversy by claiming some players had a problem with the duration of John Harbaugh’s practices leading into their preparation for the Divisional Playoff Game against Pittsburgh.

Side Bar: What fans may or may not know is that the longest practice during the week is on Wednesdays – all of 1 hour and 25 minutes.

Back to Preston’s blog, he would go on to explain (link) that cooler heads prevailed.

“As a team, both sides came to an agreement but there were some tense moments with some players even threatening to go the players' union and the media.”

Before signing off, Preston fanned the flames one more time.

“This shouldn't be happening during the biggest week of the season.”

Look I don’t know about you, but wherever I’ve been employed there was always some whiny little clique or squeaky wheel that was never 100% on board with anything. You know the type. Every company has them and an optimist might say that they challenge you and help keep things honest. Others might say the whining is a waste of time.

In Preston’s case, the rumors are little more than filler – and some might say that they too are waste of time.

The team discussed it, remedied it and moved on.

So too should we…

Preston’s sometimes sidekick on 105.7 The Fan is the Rebel, Rebel himself, the always amusing (albeit not by design) Bruce Cunningham. Recently Cunningham had a tough time pronouncing the Orioles’ newest hurler Justin Duchscherer. Now on the surface most would struggle to pronounce such a name if not familiar with the player. And that is one of the beauties of the internet and Wikipedia. You see you just go to your computer (making sure it is powered up first of course), get on the web, go to Wikipedia and type in Duchscherer’s name.

And low and behold, there you will find the pronunciation: [DUKE-shur]

Hence the nickname, “Duke.”

Cunningham would have his listeners and Fox 45 viewers believe that Duchscherer’s name was a tongue twister on par with the condiment Worcestershire sauce (pronounced WOOS-tər-shər-saws).

Good thing Cunningham isn’t the Orioles PA Announcer.

Speaking of 105.7 The Fan, they are no longer the Orioles flagship station so now I guess that means uncensored O’s coverage? Boy, will that Dave Johnson let them have it now when Buck’s Boys screw up. And oh my will Damon Yaffe tell Showalter and Andy McPhail how to do their jobs now or what? Watch out O's!

The new flagship is the old flagship, WBAL Radio beginning with 10 spring training games in 2011.

Given this move it should be no surprise that the Angelos Network, aka MASN has elbowed 105.7 The Fan’s Scott Garceau Show. While no immediate plans were revealed by MASN, the network promises announcements in the very near future. Word is that the changes will be “new and original, live and local, baseball-driven programming.”

To borrow from Bart Scott, “Can’t wait!”

Did you hear that Mike Vick was given the keys to the city of Dallas by mayor pro tem Dwaine Caraway on Saturday the day before Super Bowl XLV. In case you are wondering, mayor pro tem is a Latin phrase which best translates to "for the time being."

Hey can we call Cam Cameron offensive coordinator pro tem?

But I digress…

Back to Vick, can you imagine Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake handing the keys to the city to Ben Roethlisberger under any circumstances? Keep in mind that the rivalry between the Eagles and Cowboys is pretty close to that of the Ravens and Steelers and let’s be further reminded that both quarterbacks have shady reputations off the field.

Hey Dwaine Caraway, any idea what the Latin phrase for “Dead Man Walking” is?

Speaking of walking, the Chicago Bears gave former Raven Chester Taylor his walking papers on Monday. Taylor, a free agent acquisition of the Bears during the 2010 offseason was a big disappointment to the club while averaging just 2.4 yards per carry on 112 attempts and exhibiting little to no burst inside the tackles.

That’s oftentimes what you get from a 31 year old running back with 9 years of wear and tear on the “tires.”

It remains to be seen if Taylor will land elsewhere – he was highly regarded in Minnesota so that may be a possibility. What is unlikely however is that Taylor will pursue a singing career.

 
While on the subject of “The Old Ball Game”, the Ravens’ wireless partners, Verizon Wireless will be installing 600 small antennas (antennae if you want to get real technical) at M&T Bank Stadium to improve coverage for cell phone users and help Verizon customers further enjoy the power of their 4G network. This should be great news for smartphone users.
 

I guess those texts reporting crude and rowdy behavior will now go through, eh?

GREAT SPORTS QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.” ~ Wayne Gretzky

BLAST FROM B’MORE PAST

On December 21, 1975 the Baltimore Colts defeated the New England Patriots 34-21 to clinch the AFC East title with a 10-4 record. The victory capped a worst to first turnaround season for the Bert Jones led Colts who had finished the 1974 season 2-12, good for fifth (last) place in the AFC East.

Here’s a video link that will bring back some memories as we once again relish the memories of 33rd Street, No. 1 fan “Big Wheel” and the Hall of Fame voice of Chuck Thompson.

NOW THAT’S FUNNY

On Tuesday of Super Bowl week Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger sang "Piano Man" at a Dallas piano bar.  Then on Sunday he threw two interceptions in the Steelers loss to the Packers, one that the Packers turned into a Pick 6.  Maybe Roethlisberger should have sung the National Anthem and Christina Aguilera quarterbacked the Steelers.

THIS WEEK IN BEATLES’ HISTORY

It was 47 years ago today that the Beatles first took the stage at Ed Sullivan Theatre in New York City. At the time it was the most watched event in television history attracting 73 million viewers. The Beatles played five songs in all during the show: "All My Loving," "'Till There Was You," "She Loves You," "I Saw Her Standing There" and "I Want To Hold Your Hand."

 
KEY WEST STATE OF MIND

On Tuesday, February 22nd, America will celebrate National Margarita Day, and there will be no better place to take part in the festivities than Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville locations across the US.

Now I have to admit, I’m not a big Margaritaville guy – well at least the one in Key West. The New Orleans Margaritaville is infinitely better than the disappointment on Duval Street which for me isn’t much different than a Ruby Tuesday’s in any mall in America.

But when it comes to celebrating Buffett, I’m down with that. Not that I’m a huge fan of the music, I’m a bigger fan of the lifestyle and his fun-loving philosophical approach to life.

To celebrate the big day on Feb 22, here are some interesting facts to kick around while sipping your frozen concoction that helps you hang on:

As a Guinness Book Record holder in 2001, Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville in Orlando held a 9 year record for the largest Margarita ever concocted at an astounding 7038 gallons

  • On average, Americans consume 185,000 margaritas per hour
  • Over 4 million margaritas are served annually in Margaritaville restaurants
  • At Margaritaville, Margaritas 'on the rocks' beat out their frozen sibling 60/40
  • The Margaritaville way to drink a Margarita, Salt always beats out No Salt

“I just want to live happily ever after, every now and then.” ~ Jimmy Buffett

 

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Harry O'Sullivan
Posted On: 2/9/11 5:13 pm
Ain't the beer cold. I remember once seeing Brent Guntz of WBAL Tv, do a live commercial for GUNTHER Beer, and the camera was supposed to pan away after Brent took a sip of beer. Well, the camers stayed on for a few seconds more and the shot was very funny of Brents spitting the mouthfull of beer into a Bucket next to his desk! But I digress.
.. I saw many of the Colts home games and had my little transister radio in my ear, to listen to the golden tones of Chuck Thompsons Voice! In my 60 plus years on this earth, I have heard none better at CHUCK describing a football play or a baseball play; Chuck had the unique ability to put just the right inflection in his voice to give you a picture in your minds eye of what action took place.
The Vidoes of BERT JONES Scoring vs the Patriots: I was in the stands that day; what excitement we had back then. I for one think that as hard as the Ravens try; They will never have the magic that the COLTS brought to our fair city.
Luigi Pucci
Posted On: 2/9/11 11:05 am
Tony,

Don't know if you had a chance to listen to the Bruce Cunningham Show last Friday. It was one of the best ever. Come to find out, and it didn't register at the time, Cunningham wasn't on the show. Bob Hanie took the lead.

Maybe cunnigham's days are numbered. Do you think WNST will take him back?
Josh
Posted On: 2/9/11 10:36 am
I think Preston benefits from working for the only major newspaper in town, and the fact that its editor is a Browns fan. There's a reason Preston can't graduate from covering Baltimore sports...he's just awful.

Tony, that link showing the Colts/Pats was awesome. I have tons of stories from my dad and grandfather (who missed a total of ONE game during the Colts' time here) about how much the Colts meant to this city. I can only hope that the Ravens one day garner that kind of love. Hopefully, we are moving in that direction.



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