Scanning the world of the NFL, there are no shortage of players, teams, coaches, fans, owners, and officials to throw Under The Bus (Jerome Bettis Limited Edition, 850 hp). Football fans everywhere, you are welcome to chime in with your nominations! I have a few nominations myself.
NFL
The officiating crew in the Denver-Kansas City game: for giving Brandon Marshall a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after Marshall's rendition of "Let It Snow, Let It Snow." Marshall had just caught a TD pass from Jay Cutler and was throwing snow high in the air in celebration of a TD. He wasn't showing ANYONE up!! If he's taunting a KC defender, THEN you throw the flag! Officials, Under The Bus you all go! I'll add the NFL Rules Committee to be thrown Under The Bus as well.
Anthony Smith: this genius guaranteed a Steelers' victory over the Patriots earlier in the week. So what does he do for an encore? He gives up THREE TD passes!! Not ONE, not TWO, but THREE. As I write, 54fulltiltfulltime is having a whole pot of chilled crow delivered to one Anthony Smith. For this foolish guarantee, Anthony Smith gets thrown where? Under The Bus!!!
Carolina Panthers: embarassing. While J-ville is a good, but not great, team, I expected a MUCH better effort from the Kittens. ONE HUNDRED FORTY-NINE TOTAL YARDS?? WORSE THAN PATHETIC!!! Not only that, but J-ville amassed 427 yards in total offense. Time for Fox to go and be replaced by Bill Cowher. Give Cowher total control of the football operations. For this God-awful "effort", the Kittens get thrown Under The Bus.
Detroit Lions defense: it is inexcusable blowing a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter! The Lions' offense played well enough to put an ####-kicking on the Cowboys' defense. If the defense played half as well as the offense, the Cowboys would be tied with the Packers at 11-2. Paris Lenon had a chance to put the game away with a fumble recovery, but he tried to scoop it up and deflected the ball to Andre Gurode of the Cowboys. ALL HE HAD TO DO WAS FALL ON THE F-ING BALL AND THE LIONS WIN!!! IS THAT SO HARD TO DO?? Instead, Tony Romo completes a clutch fourth down pass on the next play to keep the drive alive. The Lions' defense gets thrown Under The Bus.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: I've been propping you guys for most of the year, and you reward me with THIS?? A beatdown administered by the Houston Texans' second-string QB? I can see this if it were the Cowboys or Packers putting the beatdown on the Bucs. But the TEXANS??? The Bucs get thrown Under The Bus.
ESPN: for single-handedly making Monday Night Football irrelevant. You have matchups like New Orleans-Atlanta?? Which Head #### decided that this would be a compelling matchup? The Four-Letter gets thrown Under The Bus.
NFL schedule makers: for putting another couple of overexposed NFC East teams on NBC next Sunday night: Washington Redskins vs. New York Giants. The Redskins' playoff hopes are BARELY on life support. A MUCH better matchup would be Buffalo at Cleveland. Admit it NBC, you have a bias towards Eastern teams from the Eastern Seaboard no matter how BAD THEY SUCK (NY Giants, Washington, Philly, New England). Just get it done and sign an exclusive contract with the NFC East. So Under The Bus you go!
NBA
New York Knicks: too much drama. Between Isiah Thomas and Stephon Marbury, it would be too much for even the most hard-core Knicks fans to handle. There WAS a time when the Knicks were a well-run franchise among the NBA's elite. It's going to take Thomas' departure, either by firing or resignation, plus some very good personnel moves, to make this franchise good again.
That's all I have for now. I have expanded this to include all sports. Feel free to come in with your nominations!!!
The Ravens, or at least their offense is thrown under the bus. Picked by most to contend for the Super Bowl this season, their 4-2 start has turned into an ugly 4-9 record with a 7 game losing streak. The Chiefs and the lowly Dolphins are the only teams in the AFC that have scored fewer total points than the Ravens this season.
Midnite, good nomination. I had them in the playoffs in the preseason. I think Billick's gone after the season. Don't be surprised if they go after a coordinator.
Jon-great post as always-But I told you the Panthers were tanking it in order to try and get Cowher in the off-season. The only bright spot for the Ravens tonight was the play of Troy Smith-maybe they will finally have a quarterback.
And after that pasting the Sixers laid on the Knicks IN MADISON SQUARE GARDEN- it is past time to throw Isaiah under the bus and run it back and forth over him a few times-(cause the monster never dies the first time.)
Eric Mangini. Losing 17-12 with 1:46 left on the clock he decides to kick a field goal and make it 17-15. Can someone, anywhere on this earth, explain this to me. I don't see him in that role much longer.
Lets keep Foxy. He didnt draft Carr, it was a GM decision, as was getting rif of the old offensive coordinator. Lets get a couple of real coordinators, and involve Foxy in draft decisions. You shouldd put the Panthers pathetic D under the bus. They have played passionless all season!
You can't blame all the worlds ills on ESPN....they don't make the football schedule....In fact, is is made a year in advance...and year ago, NO was in the NFC Championship, and the Falcons still had Vick, and NO v ATL is actually a pretty big rivalry....Its all a #### shoot anyways....Yesterdays 13-3 is now 3-13.....that's not the fault of the networks.
My nomination is......Dennis Green. During the Thursday night broadcast, he kept saying how great of a decission it was to "pooch" the kickoffs so Hester couldn't really set-up a return...The problem is that the Bears kept getting it around the 35 anyways...So the ACTUAL wisw move would be to kick it out of bounds, give them the ball at the 40 (only giving 5 extra yards), and have ZERO chanve of Hester returning it....Maybe this is why he is no longer a coach.
Gemini, I think it's going to happen. While I like Fox, I think he's lost the team, particularly on the defensive end. As for Smith, all he needed was a shot.
Culture, I think the Jets will give him one more year. It was a very bad year, punctuated by a QB controversy.
Moon, I say give MNF to TNT or some other cable network.
Josh, I was dumbfounded that the Dolphins didn't draft Quinn. I'm not a Dolphins fan and I was PISSED.
Wellnessdr, all but Kris Jenkins and Richard Marshall.
Volfan69, ESPN definitely needs new blood--they have gotten stale.
Slap, there is definitely a reason Dennis Green is no longer a head coach. Good nomination there. Last year's NO-ATL game was a good matchup. No one anticipated Vick pleading guilty and going in the federal hole.
Thank you all for reading and replying.
Last edited by jon_464 on December 10th at 8:56 PM.
I am from Central California. I am passionate about sports, particularly the NFL and NASCAR. My favorite teams are: Panthers (NFL), Lakers (NBA), Flyers (NHL), and Dodgers (MLB). I am also a Kevin Harvick fan in NASCAR. I am a Fresno State honk. (I'll admit it!) And I am also a fan of MMA. Jackie Robinson to this day represents what is right about baseball. I also enjoy discussing the relevant (and sometimes irrelevant) issues of the day pertaining to sports. I will never understand why televised poker is so popular. Who wants to see a bunch of people sitting around a table, muttering to themselves? I do my best to keep politics out of my sports discussions. That is why I recently created a nonsports blog, cencalscribe. blogspot.com. That is where I post my nonsports topics.
