Totally Random
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Another Pro Bowl snub was enough to set off Washington Redskins linebacker London Fletcher, who called himself “the Susan Lucci of the NFL” for being again overlooked despite owning a career he described as “Hall of Fame worthy.”
‘I don’t know if it was because I wasn’t a first-round draft pick, I don’t do some kind of dance when I make a 10-yard tackle, I don’t go out and get arrested,’ Fletcher told reporters. ‘I
believe in playing the game the way it’s supposed to be played. You line up each and every week, each and every play, and you go out and get the job done.
‘You look at my body of work and I’ve done that for 11 years, but because I’m not going out causing a lot of controversy, holding a private meeting with the coordinator saying this, this and this, causing a lot of strife on my team, I don’t garner a lot of attention.’
Fletcher is the leading tackler in the NFL this decade and has never missed a game in his 11-year career -- and is an eight-time Pro Bowl alternate. On the hopeful side, Lucci was nominated for an Emmy 18 times before winning, so if Fletcher can just be patient.
Trivia time
Where was the first Pro Bowl played?
Four-star broadcast booth
Count John Madden among those saddened to see the Dallas Cowboys move out of Texas Stadium next season.
‘The [broadcast] booth was the best in the business,’ Madden told the Dallas Morning News. ‘I didn’t know a lot about all the booths in the NFL, but I found out quickly that was the best because it was not only the biggest, but it was the only one that had a bathroom in it, and if you don’t think that’s big, that is big.”
Excessive force
What was the worst officiating call of 2008?
The Website Fannation.com gives the dubious honor to the “excessive celebration” call at the conclusion of the Sept. 6 Washington-BYU football game. As Huskies fans will never forget, Washington quarterback Jake Locker was penalized for tossing his hands and the football in the air after scoring what appeared to be the tying touchdown with two seconds left.
Excessive?
Only the penalty fit the description. With the ball moved back 15 yards, the ensuing extra-point attempt was blocked and the Huskies lost by a point. By that much, an eventual 0-12 season was saved.
Trivia answer
Wrigley Field in Los Angeles. There, on Jan. 15, 1939, the New York Giants defeated the Pro All-Stars, 13-10.
And finally
From Dan Daly of the Washington Times, after the Yankees signed CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett to the tune of $243 million: ‘You know, maybe the carmakers should have gone to Hank Steinbrenner for a bailout.’
-- Mike Penner