Blak4rest http://blak4rest.com Sports Commentary, Media and Vegas Sat, 04 Feb 2012 23:11:17 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Blast From The Past: World B. Free http://blak4rest.com/2012/02/blast-from-the-past-world-b-free/ http://blak4rest.com/2012/02/blast-from-the-past-world-b-free/#comments Sat, 04 Feb 2012 23:11:17 +0000 Forrest Lee http://blak4rest.com/?p=25265

    You think Ron Artest took a page out of the playbook of Lloyd Bernard Free when he changed his name?
    Lord knows Artest could never fill it up like Free, who made his name in Philly as a scoring machine.
    Free, who now works with the 76ers as a community ambassador, was the last Clipper to start an All-Star game. Imagine that. That’s been more than 30 years ago since Free lit up the opposition as an All-Star guard for the San Diego Clippers.
    L.A. Times

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    Bears cornerback Charles Tillman, who is 1 of the nominees for the prestigious Walter Payton award, and our wonderful friend Melanie Salata Fitch share a Kodak moment at Super Bowl XLVI in Indy. Fitch is CEO of Irrelevant Week, which annually celebrates the last pick of the NFL Draft with a bash of weekly festivities in Newport Beach. More importantly, Melanie is the wife of the notable Ed Fitch, who we’ve had the fortune of sharing a cocktail or 2 with.

    ]]>     http://blak4rest.com/2012/02/bear-hug/feed/ 0     No Hand Jobs For L.A. http://blak4rest.com/2012/02/no-hand-jobs-for-l-a/ http://blak4rest.com/2012/02/no-hand-jobs-for-l-a/#comments Sat, 04 Feb 2012 09:44:28 +0000 Forrest Lee http://blak4rest.com/?p=25251
    Well if we’re to believe the Commissioner, the Chargers won’t be coming to L.A. anytime soon. You buying his bullshit?
    Could you clarify your current view on the possible relocation of a team or teams versus expansion as the means to get a franchise to Los Angeles, if and when expansion is a possibility on what timetable would you see that and by how many teams would you possibly expand?
    Goodell: “I don’t know what you mean about clarify. I will tell you that we have not talked about expansion in the league at all. It has not been on our agenda. It is not something that we focused on with our membership, and I don’t see that in the foreseeable future. We want to keep our teams where they are. We believe that it is healthier for the league in the long term. We’re working to get stadiums built – make sure to do whatever we can to be certain that those teams are successful in those communities.
    So we will continue our efforts on that front. We have been successful there and we will hopefully be able to continue that.”
    You’ve long held that you won’t do a deal in Los Angeles until it is the right deal for the NFL and the right deal for the city. There are 2 deals out there, competing sites. Is Los Angeles asking too much right now?
    Goodell: “I don’t look at it that way. I look at this as a partnership. We’ve got to find a way to make it work for both parties, as you stated correctly. That’s my position. I believe that there’s a way to make the partnership work. We’ve proven it throughout the country where you can get stadiums built. They are great for the communities, they are great for the team and they are great for the League overall. You are seeing it right here in Indianapolis. We have a terrific facility here. They are now hosting the Super Bowl, and they’ll be on the global stage this Sunday. There are great things that can come from working together, compromising and finding the right solutions. Maybe not everyone is going to be happy but, at the end of the day, you can be successful.”

    ]]>     http://blak4rest.com/2012/02/no-hand-jobs-for-l-a/feed/ 0     Bill Board Material http://blak4rest.com/2012/02/bill-board-material/ http://blak4rest.com/2012/02/bill-board-material/#comments Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:03:05 +0000 Forrest Lee http://blak4rest.com/?p=25243

      The New England head coach addressed the media today in Indy.
      Opening statement: “It’s been a good week for our football team here in Indianapolis. The city and the accommodations all the way around, the practice facility, the hotel — everything here has been really outstanding. I think our team has enjoyed the week here. We’ve had a good week of preparation. I know we’ve got a big challenge here Sunday against the Giants, (a) great football team, well-coached, a lot of outstanding players. Of course, we faced them earlier in the season, so we have a good sense of that. I feel like our team has had a good week. I feel like we’ll be ready to go, and we’re looking forward, excited to be representing the AFC in this game. It’s a big challenge for us, but one that we’re excited to face.”
      On if this Super Bowl week experience has been any different since he hasn’t been here in a while: “Every Super Bowl is special and it’s a real privilege to be involved. I know this is my eighth one as a head or assistant coach, but it’s what you work for all year going all the way back to February or March when you start putting your team together and training camp and all the meetings. It’s like 111 practices a year, or whatever it is, but it’s a long haul. To be able to get here is what you work for, so it’s a great experience. Each one is different. They’re all special, and it’s really a great reward for all the hard work and competitive success that we’ve had on the field throughout the course of the year to be able to be here and represent our conference in this great game. Happy to be here. Very happy to be here.”
      On if there is any possibility that a win on Sunday could make him decide that it’s an appropriate time to retire: “Right now, I’m really thinking, ‘What’s the best thing I can do to help our football team on Sunday against the Giants?’ I want to really try to do a good job in the job that I have. I enjoy all the aspects of the job. I enjoy the team-building, the drafting, the free agents, team acquisitions those kind of things. I enjoy bringing in the young players and working with guys who haven’t been in the NFL and teaching them the basic fundamentals in how to become a professional football player for the New England Patriots. I enjoy working with the veteran players, the Tom Bradys and the Vince Wilforks and the Wes Welkers and all those kind of players that can do really special things because of their not only talent, but experience. I enjoy the competition on a weekly basis. Not just on Sundays, but the preparation leading up into the game. I enjoy all of it. It beats working. It’s fun to address those challenges on a daily basis, so right now I’m really focused on the game and that’s where my energy is going to go, toward doing the best I can for the New England Patriots against the Giants on Sunday.”

      On tight end Rob Gronkowski’s injury status: “I think he was OK this morning. I think he was OK. I don’t think we had any setbacks. We’ll see how it goes out there today, but I think that he’s been on a…Rob’s worked extremely hard. He’s gotten treatment morning, noon, and night, and he’s gotten better on a daily basis. Hopefully we’ll be able to continue that same process today, tomorrow, and all day Sunday. We’ll see where that takes us, but I think he’s coming along. We’ll just have to see where he gets to, but we’re certainly moving in the right direction and getting better on a daily basis.”
      On what Gronkowski was able to do yesterday in practice: “He practiced on a limited basis. He did some of the things that we did in practice, but not all of them. Is that the elaboration you were looking for? (laughs)”
      On what it means to share a spot in the record books with Tom Brady: “There’s no quarterback I’d rather have than Tom Brady. He’s a tremendous player and competitor. It’s been a real privilege for me to coach him during his career with the New England Patriots. Then again, as far as looking back and putting it into some kind of historical perspective and all that, I think we’ll leave that to another time and right now just focus on our game with the Giants.”
      On what the team will be doing tonight and tomorrow: “We will be in our team hotel, yes. I don’t know if that’s downtown or not. It’s kind of semi-downtown, but yeah, we’ll be there. Today we’ll have kind of a Friday/Saturday type of practice and then tomorrow we’ll go over to the stadium. We’ll do team pictures. We’ll do some things in our Saturday night meeting and be ready to go on Sunday. We’re kind of combining these next couple days into a one where it’s an extended type of Saturday preparation.”
      On the impact of the longer halftime in the Super Bowl: “My experience with the longer halftime has been that you go out and you play the 1st half. Normally our halftime is 12 minutes and this halftime will be closer to 30, so 2 1/2 times as long. I think it really gets into a whole restarting mentality. It’s not like taking a break and coming out in the 2nd half. It’s like starting the game all over again. It’s like playing a game, stopping, and then playing a second game. It’s like a double-header in baseball, if you will. I think that makes it a little bit different and we tried to simulate that in practice on Wednesday where we had the players go through that process of restarting. It’s the kind of thing you can have a meeting about, you can talk about, and this is what it’s going to be like, that’s what it’s going to be like, this is what you need to do. I just felt that it was beneficial for our team this year to actually put them through that. Go out there and warm up, practice, take a break, shut it down for a half hour, go into the locker room, simulate what a half time would be in terms of corrections, adjustments and restarting our bodies, both mentally and physically to restart the game with ‘Here’s how we are going to start the second half, here’s the plays we’re going to run, here’s the things they did to hurt us, here’s the things we have to be ready for’, things like that. We just tried to go through that process on a time frame more like it’s going to be this week than what it’s been in other games this season.”
      On making a hypothetical case for Bill Parcells to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Committee: “A couple people have asked me about that. I guess they were on the committee. Absolutely, Bill has done a tremendous job in his time in the National Football League, really taking 5 organizations from not a very high point to a very high point. I was with him in 3e of those organizations and saw from a different perspective what he did in Dallas and Miami and those areas. Bill is a tremendous coach, a great influence in my career and on me personally. I think he’s had tremendous accomplishments in the game, not only his record but also his development of players and coaches and just the impact to the National Football League. In my time as a coach in the National Football League, not getting back to coaches that I just barely overlapped with, or didn’t overlap with at all, I would say of the coaches that I’ve been with over this time, either with or competing against, I would certainly put him right up there at the top. I learned an awful lot from him and think he’s done a tremendous job and had a tremendous career. I can’t imagine him being left out of the group.”
      On how much ‘no-huddle’ the Patriots ran against the Giants on Nov. 6 and on how the ‘no-huddle offense’ has been a weapon for the Patriots this year: “We used it some in that game, with varying degrees of success. I think there were some things that went well and other things that could have been better. Overall, it’s been a change of pace for us. I think it forces the defenses to play at a different tempo where they can’t fall into a natural rhythm. They have to be ready for things to speed up, be ready for things to slow down and have different personnel groups. It just puts a little more stress on our defensive opponents to prepare for more things, more personnel groups, faster pace, change of formation, communication, things like that. If we can do it better than they can, it’s an advantage. If it slows us down or if it hinders us in some aspect in being able to attack our opponents, we won’t use that and do something else.”
      On how he looks forward to the week and the game on Sunday and on if he has slept normally: “Slept like a baby. Honestly, I usually do during the season. I start early and have a full day of things that I need to do to prepare myself and prepare the team. When it gets to the early part of the evening or so, I’m usually kind of getting worn out and go to bed, sleep well, wake up in the morning and start fresh. At the end of the day, I’m tired and have no problem rolling and putting my head on that pillow and I’m out.”

      ]]> http://blak4rest.com/2012/02/bill-board-material/feed/ 0 Angelo Dundee: 1921-2012 http://blak4rest.com/2012/02/angelo-dundee-1921-2012/ http://blak4rest.com/2012/02/angelo-dundee-1921-2012/#comments Thu, 02 Feb 2012 04:03:46 +0000 Forrest Lee http://blak4rest.com/?p=25238

      The Hall of Famer will be forever linked as the influential trainer of Muhammad Ali. Dundee passed today in Tampa, Fla. He was 90.
      AP

      ]]>       http://blak4rest.com/2012/02/angelo-dundee-1921-2012/feed/ 0       Super Bowl XLVI: Sights & Sounds http://blak4rest.com/2012/02/super-bowl-xlvi-sights-sounds/ http://blak4rest.com/2012/02/super-bowl-xlvi-sights-sounds/#comments Thu, 02 Feb 2012 03:49:35 +0000 Forrest Lee http://blak4rest.com/?p=25233

      Above: The lovely Marisol Gonzalez; left: L.A. radio personality Vic “The Brick” Jacobs.
      How about a quickie? A few random thoughts regarding Tuesday’s media day at Super Bowl XLVI in Indy.
      Cincinnati.com

      ]]>       http://blak4rest.com/2012/02/super-bowl-xlvi-sights-sounds/feed/ 0       Bringing Down The Curtain: Studio 54 http://blak4rest.com/2012/01/bringing-down-the-curtain-studio-54/ http://blak4rest.com/2012/01/bringing-down-the-curtain-studio-54/#comments Wed, 01 Feb 2012 07:58:48 +0000 Forrest Lee http://blak4rest.com/?p=25225

          After more than 14 remarkable years on the Las Vegas Strip, Studio 54 at MGM Grand Hotel & Casino will close Sunday, Feb. 5. The legendary nightclub will celebrate its success with an unforgettable bash Saturday, Feb. 4.
          Info: MGMGrand.com

          ]]> http://blak4rest.com/2012/01/bringing-down-the-curtain-studio-54/feed/ 0 In Case You Missed It… http://blak4rest.com/2012/01/in-case-you-missed-it/ http://blak4rest.com/2012/01/in-case-you-missed-it/#comments Wed, 01 Feb 2012 07:52:26 +0000 Forrest Lee http://blak4rest.com/?p=25221

          ]]>           http://blak4rest.com/2012/01/in-case-you-missed-it/feed/ 0           Now That’s Some Lineup http://blak4rest.com/2012/01/now-thats-a-special-lineup-card/ http://blak4rest.com/2012/01/now-thats-a-special-lineup-card/#comments Wed, 01 Feb 2012 06:50:10 +0000 Forrest Lee http://blak4rest.com/?p=25216

            So who’s the blond?
            This select group of former Major Leaguers and Hall of Famers gathered for dinner Sunday at N9NE Steakhouse at the Palms Casino Resort in Vegas. How about this lineup: Reggie Jackson; Randy Johnson; Bo Jackson; John Smoltz; Ozzie Smith; Wade Boggs; Gary Sheffield; David Wells; Trevor Hoffman; Joe Carter; Rob Dibble; and Harold Reynolds.
            Image courtesy of Palms Casino Resort

            ]]> http://blak4rest.com/2012/01/now-thats-a-special-lineup-card/feed/ 0 Meltdown http://blak4rest.com/2012/01/meltdown/ http://blak4rest.com/2012/01/meltdown/#comments Mon, 30 Jan 2012 06:52:06 +0000 Forrest Lee http://blak4rest.com/?p=25213

              Golfer Kyle Stanley had a major 1 at Torrey Pines on Sunday. I wouldn’t even wish that on my worst enemy,” he said.
              Devil Ball Golf

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